Legend of Sota: Book 1-Air
by Blak-Ice
Summary: Being the Avatar is hard. Being her little brother is just as hard. After finding a baby all alone in a blizzard, Korra has become a big sister. Her journey only gets more exciting as she and her new little brother travel the world trying to discover their destiny. New characters, same old story. Legend of Korra Book 1, rewritten with more characters and story to add to the fun!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone. How have you been? I have been…preoccupied to say the least. I've been dealing with a lot of emotional things as of late. If there's one word of advice I can give you all, it's to never fall in love with your best friend (the irony of what I do with my characters is not lost on me).**

 **But I digress. Anyway, I've got some good news for everyone. I've started writing again. Though it's still tough for me to do at the moment because of my work schedule, I have decided to change up the way I will be doing things.**

 **From now on, I will not be focusing on one story solely, but various stories which I will write and update in rotation. The stories that are in the rotation are the following:**

 **-Soul Eater: DWMA: Death Weapon Meister Armageddon**

 **-The Legend of Korra: The Legend of Sota: Book 1-Air**

 **-Danny Phantom: 2 Parents Minus a Child Equals a Journey**

 **-Danny Phantom/ Young Justice: Phantom Light: Resurrection**

 **At the moment, these are the stories that are for sure that will be getting updated but there is no particular order so one story may get updated more frequently than others. I may update another story that isn't as popular or listed here, but at the moment, these are the stories you can expect to see get updated and will be informed on the most. I plan to update at least once or twice a month, hopefully more though.**

 **I'd like to thank everyone for their patience and for the continued support. So please enjoy, review and if you have any questions, concerns or just want to talk about the stories, feel free to message me.**

 **-Blaki-Ice**

Chapter 1

Korra pushed hard against the raging snowstorm as it whipped relentlessly all around her. The five year old had, once again, outsmarted her protectors, a few members of the Order of the White Lotus who were no doubt going to be in serious trouble for losing track of the Avatar. Although the fact that they were tricked by a child was probably embarrassing enough as it was.

A determined looked etched across her face as she ran through the snow with her best friend and pet polar bear dog puppy, Naga. Her white fur made it easier for her to blend into the background around her, which would have worried Korra that she wouldn't be able to see her, but the thought was virtually mute as Naga never moved more than few feet from her side. This was a large comfort to the young girl as, unfortunately, while wandering off and hiding from the guards, she had gotten distracted and was now lost.

To make matters worse, she was now fighting through a vicious blizzard in a thoroughly poor attempt to get home. If she even knew what direction home was, that is. Naga stood by her side, protecting Korra as best she could while Korra focused on keeping warm and moving. In retrospect, she probably would have been better staying in her hiding spot in that abandoned hut; at least then she would have been protected from storm for a while. But Korra knew that the longer she was out here, the colder she was going to get, and the worse the situation was going to get.

A whimpering sound came from the small sling she had made to go around her before the sound elevated into a full outcry. Korra shivered as the wind picked up, pushing her backwards as the icy flakes pelted her and the baby. She had been doing her best so far to prevent him from getting hit by the terrible weather, but her efforts were going to be in vein if it continued like this. But, being the stubborn child she was, Korra refused to stop moving.

"Don't worry, baby," she whispered to him as she hugged his small blanket wrapped body closer to her own. "I'm gonna protect you because I'm the Avatar and that's my job. We're gonna get back to the village and then we're gonna be all warm and we're gonna have lots of yummy food and-" Korra stopped as Naga began to bark before taking off down the hill. A small flicker of hope grew in the young girl as she began to pick up the pace and took off after her companion.

Her eyes instantly fell on the shining light of the lamp that one of the guards carried as they searched for her. A large smile instantly crossed Korra's face at the site of them, and without any hesitation, she took off down the hill, sliding and tripping a bit, but keeping her balance as she began to cry out and wave her free hand. "Hey! Over here! Hey!"

One of the guards turned around at the sound of her cries as well as Naga's barking. Relief instantly flooded his features as the Avatar came into site, unharmed. Quickly calling the rest of his team, the White Lotus sentries ran up to her, meeting her just as she reached the bottom of the hill while Naga ran in circles around them happily.

"Radio headquarters and let them know we've found the Avatar and will be back as soon as possible," he commanded. One of the others nodded his head and pulled his radio out to give the call. Turning back to the young girl, he quickly wrapped her in a blanket he had prepared for her. Korra shivered in satisfying delight at the feeling of the warm material around her, pulling the baby in her arms closer to her. "Are you alright? We need to get you back to the compound immediately and-"

"Look what I found!" Korra cried out happily as she opened her parka. The small baby in her arms curled against her as he tried to get away from the cold. The White Lotus sentries looked at her in surprise.

"Where did you get that baby?" One of the female guards asked.

"He was all alone in a hut. It didn't look like anyone was living there anymore but me and Naga found him by himself so I took him because I bet he was lonely and cold and hungry and-"

"Ok, ok, Korra. Why don't we get you back to the compound and warmed up and we'll figure out what to do about him," the female sentry said. Korra smiled as she was led back to the compound by the other guards. Turning back to the guard with the radio, the sentry commanded, "Radio the compound and let them know that Korra found a baby and that someone should go back and check on the hut in case the parents come back or if there's anyone else still there."

The fellow sentry nodded his head and quickly called back to their base with the news of the Avatar's recent discovery.

Korra sat surprisingly patiently in her room, though with a large smile on her face. She had done it! She had done her first real good deed as the Avatar! She was awesome! She was gonna be the greatest Avatar ever! Everyone was probably talking about how proud they were of her and how awesome she was and all that.

She gripped the blanket wrapped around her with one hand while the other brought the steaming cup of hot tea to her lips. The warm liquid trickled down her throat pleasantly while her tongue danced at the sweet natural sugars of the honey that had been added to it.

"I wonder if the baby likes tea," she said out loud to herself. Turning to Naga, who was laying next to her with her head on her paws, she asked, "Do you think the baby likes tea, Naga? I bet he does! Tea is really good, so I'm sure he does. Everybody likes tea."

Korra paused in her ranting as the door flew open, her parents standing in the doorway. A look of relief and happiness came to their faces as their eyes fell upon their daughter who was safe and sound.

"Korra!" Senna said as she and Tonraq crossed the small room and hugged their daughter. "We're so glad that they found you and that you're safe."

"We were worried sick about you. What on earth were you thinking running away like that?" Tonraq reprimanded.

"Mommy, Daddy, I found a baby!" Korra said excitedly, completely ignoring her father's question. The two parents were taken by surprise and caught completely off guard by their daughter's statement.

"You found what, Korra?" Senna asked.

"I found a baby!" She repeated with just as much enthusiasm.

"How and where did you get a baby?" Tonraq asked.

"Naga and I found him when we were outside playing! I slipped down a hill, and at first it hurt, but then when I got up, I saw a hut, and it looked kinda funny because the tarp was all torn and so I went to look because I'm the Avatar and it's my job to protect everyone. So Naga and I went inside but the whole place looked really messy and dirty and there was stuff all over the ground and it was broken so I think someone ran away because they knew that they were gonna be in trouble. I didn't wanna get in trouble for it either so I was gonna leave but then I heard someone crying. Actually, it was more like screaming and it was kinda loud so I followed it to this room in the way back of the house and the baby was just there all alone so I took him with me because I know I get lonely when I'm by myself and Naga's not there and-"

"Ok, ok, Korra, we understand, dear," Senna said, calming her excited daughter down. "That was very good of you to do, and we're very proud of you."

Korra smiled at the praise she received from her parents, happy to see that her work as the Avatar was already making the world better. Opening her mouth to speak again, she stopped as a knock came from the open door. Standing in the doorway was none other than the famous waterbending master, Katara who was not only charged with teaching Korra waterbending, but was without a doubt her favorite teacher in the compound. She was much more lenient and understanding then the White Lotus masters and sentries, as well as patient.

"Master Katara!" Korra cheered before noticing the baby in her arms. "Baby!"

Katara chuckled at the young girl as she walked into the room, nodding to Senna and Tonraq respectively. "It's good to see you both again."

"And you as well, Master Katara," Tonraq said before letting his eyes fall onto the baby in her arms. "So, is this the baby that Korra found?"

"Yes, it. We've checked up on him and he seems perfectly healthy for a boy his age. It was good that Korra found him when she did. I'm sure that he wouldn't have survived out there alone in this weather for very long if she hadn't."

"There were no signs of his parents? At all?" Senna asked sadly. The expression that came to Katara's face spoke volumes to the young mother, her heart hurting just from the thought alone.

"Can I hold the baby!?" Korra asked excitedly, interrupting their conversation.

Katara smiled, walking over and sitting next to her. "Of course, but you must be very careful with him," she said, as she carefully handed the baby to Korra, making sure to adjust her arms to cradle him properly. "Very good, Korra."

"Hi, baby!" she said happily as he giggled, patting her face with his tiny hand. "I'm Korra! I'm the Avatar! But you knew that already. And this is Naga. She's my best friend."

"May I speak with you both, please?" Katara asked the two parents. Walking out of Korra's hearing range, the older bender spoke in a low voice. "I'm afraid it's worse than we thought. The White Lotus went back in the direction that Korra had come from and found a hut out there by itself. They searched the entire place, and there was without a doubt an attack there."

"Do they know what or who would have attacked them?"

"Based on the evidence they found, they believe that it was a herd of Tiger-Seals at first. There were tracks all over the places, and their food supply was completely depleted. But, upon closer inspection, it because obvious that there was another attack, most likely the one that…orphaned him."

Senna could feel her heart breaking at the tone in Katara's words. Being a mother, and a young one at that, it always hurt her to hear about things like this. She couldn't image what she would do if it had been Korra who had been abandoned out there. Tonraq, sensing his wife's distress, wrapped an arm around her in comfort before nodding for Katara to continue.

"The White Lotus searched the entire hut. Beyond the Tiger-Seal tracks, there were signs of a struggle. If we had to guess, his parents were most likely attacked in their home by some roaming bandits who were looking to get out of the storm or to rob them," Katara said sadly with a shake of her head. "They were able to find his birth certificate, but no his parents aren't from around here which means he has no more family that we know of or can contact. He's been completely orphaned."

"That poor boy," Senna said.

"I'm so glad I found you!" Korra said, still oblivious to the adult's conversation. "We're gonna play games, and I'm gonna teach you stuff. I wonder if you're gonna be a waterbender! I hope so because then I can teach you how to waterbend! Or maybe you can learn with me and Master Katara! But it's ok if you're not though because I'm still gonna be the best big sister ever!"

"Big sister?" her mother said as the three adults looked to her, surprised. Senna got an uncomfortable look on her face as she approached her daughter and tried to think of a way to let her down gently about what would happen. "Korra, you can't keep him."

"Why not?" She asked, hurt and confusion on her face. "I got to keep Naga when I found her."

"Sweetie, Naga's a polar bear dog. This boy, he's not an animal that you can keep as a pet. He's a person, and he needs to go where he can be properly cared for."

"So, he's going back to live with his mommy and daddy?"

"Well…no, sweetheart," Tonraq said as he kneeled in front of her. "He doesn't have a mommy or a daddy, so he has to go to an orphanage with other kids who don't have parents."

"What's an orphanage?"

"It's a place where kids who don't have families go to grow up and learn and, maybe, even get adopted and brought into a nice family."

"So…they're gonna take him away?" Korra asked sadly as her bottom lip began to quiver and her eyes began to water.

"I'm afraid so."

"No!" She screamed, holding him a little tighter in her arms. "You can't take him away from me!"

"Korra, you have to be reasonable, and-"

"No! NO, NO, NO, NO! I found him! I saved him! It's my job as the Avatar to save and help people! You can't take him away from me! I won't let you!"

"Korra-"

"Perhaps it would be a good idea," Katara said, surprising the two parents. "I know from experience, that Aang was very lonely as a child before he met Sokka and me. It was one of the many reasons he was so adamant about having more than one child, even if Bumi had been an airbender. Not to mention, it may give her a good sense of responsibility and help her progress in her avatar training. After all, standing up for what you believe in and protecting those you care for the most is the first step in becoming a good Avatar. Besides, it's very clear that the two of them have bonded, and it would be a shame to have to separate them."

Tonraq and Senna looked at each other, a look of uncertainty going between them.

"Well…" Senna thought out loud. "We have been considering having another baby…"

"And Korra does seem pretty attached to him," Tonraq continued as a small smile came to his face. "I suppose it could work out."

"So…we can keep him?" Korra asked hopefully.

"Yes, dear. We can keep him," Senna said with a laugh as Korra cheered happily. Naga, who had been at attention at her side, jumped off the bed, barking and running around happily, her tail waged fiercely.

"Welcome to the family, Baby!"

"You know, he has a name, Korra," Katara laughed as she pulled the birth certificate from her pocket and handed it to Tonraq to read.

"Sota," he said before a proud smile came to his face. "Sota of the Southern Water Tribe."

"Welcome to the family Sota!" Korra said as he giggled in her arms. "I promise, I'll be the best big sister ever!" Looking up to her parents, she declared, "I love him already!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I can't stand him!" Korra screamed as she paced around the animal stables in a very clear fit of rage. Naga, ever the attentive and obedient companion that she was, sat quietly as she watched her master move back and forth in front of her angrily as she almost literally breathed fire.

When the eleven year old avatar had been told that her parents and brother were coming to visit her and observe her training at the compound, Korra was absolutely ecstatic. She loved spending time with her family, especially considering how rare it was given the increased intensity of her Avatar training. Unfortunately, that excitement was very short lived.

Upon their arrival, Korra wasted no time running up to her family, but soon found herself off balance as she slid forward and lost her footing. Without warning, her feet came out from under her before Korra landed ungracefully on her back, her tailbone throbbing in pain from the hardwood floor. With a groan, she sat up, her mother instantly at her side and checking over her.

"Korra, are you alright?" Senna asked. Korra nodded her head while rubbing her back to try and massage the pain away. Turning around, Senna gave a disapproving look as she said, "Sota, that wasn't very nice. You could have really hurt your sister."

"Wait, what?" Korra asked. Looking behind her father, her eyes fell upon her six year old little brother who had a devious little smirk on his face. "You did that!?"

"Turns out, your brother is a waterbender, Korra," Tonraq said, a hint of pride in his voice, though he still held his disapproving scowl.

"You little brat! When I get my hands on you-"

"That's enough, Korra. You're older than him and are supposed to be more mature about this. However," Senna said, giving her son the same look as his father, "Sota, you need to apologize to your sister right now."

The young waterbender ignored his mother's command, choosing instead to stick his tongue out at Korra who lunged at him as he hid behind his father. A low growl of annoyance came from her as he parents signed in exasperation, knowing all too well that it was going to be a long day.

The rest of the day went more or less the same for the avatar-in-training as she never got a single moment of peace with her little brother nearby. Every time she turned her head, she found herself suddenly being either assaulted by random snowballs, slipping on more ice or getting blasted in the face randomly with freezing water. Needless to say, Korra was not happy.

As her anger stared to get quite restless and increase with each and every stunt that he pulled, Korra's parents knew it was only a matter of time before she would lose her cool given her very short fuse. By the time dinner came around, Tonraq and Senna could practically feel their skin burning with how much heat was being generated by their daughter. In fact they were pretty sure that if this kept up, the entire compound would burst into flame and burn down to the ground.

"Korra, maybe you should go check on Naga and get some fresh air," Senna suggested tenderly. Korra wasted no time, practically launching herself from the dinner table and outside before running to the stables where Naga was kept.

The rush of cool air as it hit her face did absolutely nothing to calm Korra down as she marched through the snow to get to Naga, not even noticing that her footsteps left trails of steam behind as it melted with each one of her steps. She wanted to be as far away from Sota at the moment as he could be, or else there was going to be a lot of consequences to pay. The last time she had been this angry, she put three White Lotus Sentries in the infirmary, and Korra was definitely not in the mood to get lectured again.

"I can't stand that little brat! So just because he can waterbend now, he gets special treatment and can get away with throwing water and snow in my face!? What kinda garbage is that!? It's not THAT big a deal! I do it too!" Korra stopped her ranting as she shifted into a stance, bending a large snowball the size of her body before dropping the water back to the ground. "See?"

Naga looked at her with a bored expression as she lay down to sleep. Korra could feel her eyebrow twitching at the polar bear dog and prepared to start her ranting again, but was quickly cut off as, for the umpteenth time that day, she was assaulted with a ball made of tightly packed snow.

Korra shriek as the wet snow dripped from her face and down her parka, causing her to fall backwards once again and land on the ground. Korra quickly brushed the remaining snow away and looked around for the culprit; her anger reaching a new level even she didn't think was possible.

It wasn't hard to find him as his childish laugh directed her attention to him, giving him away.

"I got you, Korra," Sota shouted, expecting her to huff at him like she had done all day. For whatever reason, he got a great amount of enjoyment out of making his sister mad. Possibly because he just liked her attention being on him and loved it when she played along with him, and would do anything to get his way.

The young six year old was surprised, however, when his sister got to her feet, watching in curiosity as some of the snow started to melt around her. Her breathing was very ragged, almost as if she was having a hard time bringing air into her lungs as small puffs of fire came with each exhale. Sota could also see that Korra's body was physically shaking as she looked up at him, anger written all over her face.

"Uh oh…" he said, instantly scared.

"You, are so dead!" Korra shouted as she started to stomp over to him.

Sota opened his mouth, screaming an ear piercing scream at the top of his lungs as he turned on his heels and ran out of the stable. Korra wasted no time, picking up the pace and running after him at full speed.

Pushing his way through the door, Sota began to run around in the open area, turning every which way he could in hopes of throwing Korra off so he could escape, but his plan didn't seem to work as Korra continued to keep up, even gaining some ground on him every now and then.

"You're as good as dead when I get my hands on you, you little snow runt!" She yelled as she quickly covered her feet in ice and began to slide across the snow. Sota barely had time to look over his shoulder before feeling the back of his parka as it was jerked backwards and he was pulled to the ground by her.

Korra smirked as she picked him up by the hood of his jacket, watching him kick and swing in a poor attempt to get free of her grasp.

"Got you, runt," she gloated as he pouted and stuck his tongue out at her. "Aww, look at the little baby, pouting because he didn't get his way. Is the baby gonna cry now?" She teased as she poked him in the nose, her cocky smirk still in place.

Sota narrowed his eyes at her as he smacked her hand, but that did nothing to deter Korra from doing it again and again. Sota quickly became irritated with her teasing, being able to dish it out but not being able to take it, and decided that he was going to get back at her. As Korra poked him again, Sota opened his mouth and bit down on her gloved hand as hard as he could.

The pain shot through her finger instantly, both shocking and upsetting Korra at the fact that he had just bitten her. She could only scream at this as she felt the piercing of her flesh through the now torn mitten. Korra dropped her hold on Sota, allowing him to fall to the snowy ground ungracefully as possible as she tried to pull her finger out of his mouth. Unfortunately, he seemed to notice this, and only clamped down on her finger harder, causing her to suffer even more pain.

"Let go of me!" Korra screamed at him as she continued to try to remove her finger from him mouth. "Sota, I'm serious! Let me go!"

Sota, however, ignored her as he held a tight grip on her, a look of rebelliousness on his face as he gazed into her identical blue eyes.

Tears started to form in Korra's eyes as her once forgotten anger began to rise once more. Using her free hand, Korra quickly bent some water onto her hand, covering it and allowing it to harden into ice on her palm. Anger flaring, Korra swung her open hand as hard as she could. The colliding sound of it hitting the side of her brother's head was deafening, though Korra paid it no mind as his jaw unhinged, finally releasing her as he fell to the ground.

Korra clutched her shaking hand, gingerly removing the glove on it. Blood was running down her hand, mirroring the tears running down her face. The skin had been broken, exposing the flesh underneath it and allowing the blood to flow freely as it did.

Korra growled in angry disbelief; the little monster actually bit her and purposely tried to cause her pain! When she was done with him, she was going to be an only child again!

Looking down at brother's form only made her even more upset. Never, in her eleven years of life or his six years, could she ever remember a time when she had ever been this angry at him. But if there was one thing she was sure of, it was that she was going to make him regret it.

"You evil little monster!" she yelled at him as she picked him up once more, being careful not to get near his mouth in case he decided to try and bite her again. "I don't know what kind of spirit possessed you to think that biting me was a good idea, but I swear to the Spirit World, I'm gonna kick your butt so hard, you will NEVER sit down again!"

Sota continued to lay limp, not moving or even flinching slightly at her murderous threat. Korra was beginning to believe that he was ignoring her or trying to play dead, until she saw something that made her heart stop in her chest.

A trail of blood was running down the side of Sota's face, leading from an open wound at the side of his head, right near his temple. A deep blue and black bruise accompanied it as it rested on his cheek. As the blood dripped into the cold, wet snow, staining it, Sota remained still and unmoving.

Korra's blood ran colder then the winter air around her as she called his name out.

"Sota?" she whispered quietly. "Sota? Answer me…this isn't funny…if you're playing a joke on me…"

More tears came to her eyes, this time of fear and sorrow of what she had done to her little brother. Dropping to her knees, Korra clutched her brother tightly against her and began to rock him back and forth, much like she did when he was baby.

The ice below the snow dug into her knees, but Korra ignored it as she panicked about what to do about Sota. Her first thoughts were of his well-being. The second were of what her parents would say and do.

An involuntary shudder ran up her spine at that thought. She couldn't even imagine what was to come to her in the form of punishment for what she had done.

Scoping up some snow, Korra pressed it to the wound as she hugged him close. Sota's head rested limply on her shoulder, his body still unmoving. The wet snow was melting quickly against her open, uncovered palm. The heat from her hand caused it to easily mix with the blood as it slid down the back of his neck and into his parka. Korra scooped up more snow, repeating the process as more fear and tears trailed down her face. Never in her life had she ever been this scared and, as her trembling intensified, Korra began to lose hope that he would ever wake up again.

"No…Sota…no…" she cried softly in desperation. "Please, wake up. Please wake up and be ok. Just be ok. I'm so sorry! I love you, and I promise not to be mean or hurt you ever again!"

Korra squeezed her eyes closed as she prayed to the spirits that he would wake up and be ok. A bright blue light began to illuminate from her hand, shocking her as she gasped at the weird sensation. Korra looked on in amazement as the water that was once snow began to work over the wound, leaving a wonderful cooling feeling on her hand.

Soon as the light came, it seemed to vanish, leaving Sota completely healed. Korra looked on in pure elation as the water fell back to the ground. Carefully turning his head, she nearly screamed in relief.

The wound on his head was completely gone, not a single trace of it being there in the first place.

For the third time that night, Korra had tears running down her face, this time of joy, as she buried her face in his hair and held him tight, barely noticing the groan that he gave off. Sota opened his eyes, blinking a few times, before tears came to his face as well and a screech echoed from him mouth, shocking Korra who jumped back from him, giving him a slight push which only made him cry louder.

Korra began to panic as she scurried over to him, covering his mouth to calm his loud cries, but it had no effect on him. Distracted by this, Korra failed to notice the sound of people running up to her as her parents made their way through the snow to their children.

"Korra, what is going on!?" Senna yelled at her daughter, a very displeased look on her face. Korra swallowed the lump in her throat, preparing to defend herself and explain what happened, but was cut off as Sota beat her to it.

"Korra hit me!" Sota bellowed, reaching to his mother. Senna bent down, picking him up and cradling him as she tried to sooth his crying.

"Oh, sweetie, it's ok," she said lovingly. As he started to calm down, she pulled back, tilting his head gingerly to the side and examining the bruise on his cheek. It wasn't very big, but it was definitely noticeable and no doubt painful for a child. Turning back to her daughter, Senna was beyond disappointed in Korra who remained sitting on the ground, her gaze averted under the scrutinized looks from her parents. "Korra, we are very disappointed in you."

"What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" Tonraq questioned, his features matching his wife's.

Korra cautiously lifted her head, avoiding direct eye contact with either of them. She had to do something quick or else she was gonna be in for some serious punishment.

"It was an accident! I didn't start this!" she cried out. "He kept hitting me with water and snowballs! And he bit me! See? I was bleeding!" Korra raised her hand, finger extended to prove it, but, to her complete shock, found that the bite wound, which she had forgotten in her fit of terror, was gone. Not a single trace of the bite remained, not even the blood that had been on her hand. It was in that short moment that Korra remembered that this had been the hand that she used to hold the snow when her healing powers activated.

Healing powers which had not only healed her little brother's head, but her hand, all at the same time. As her shoulders slumped in defeat, Korra could only sigh.

"Ah, nuts."

"Korra, go to your room. Now," Senna declared as she pointed to the living quarters. Korra's head was once again hanging low as she stood up and shuffled across the snow, grumbling under her breath as she failed to notice Sota sticking his tongue out at her.

"I can't stand him."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Sota?" A voice called out, but the young boy didn't seem to hear or pay it much attention as his gaze remained unfocused. "Sota? SOTA!"

"Huh!? What!?" The nine year old said, a startled cry escaping his mouth as he finally came back to reality. His eyes locked onto his teacher's, a displeased look on the elder's face at his disrespect.

Sota knew all too well that a lecture would be accompanying this reprimanding look, and could only blush in embarrassment at this. Of course, it didn't help that he was now the center of attention in front of his classmates whom had taken it upon themselves to laugh at him. Hanging his head in shame, Sota couldn't believe that he'd been caught not paying attention. Again.

Master Taku took a moment more to gaze at him before letting out a frustrated sigh. Holding his hands up, he gave an authoritative cough, silencing the children, though their faces still held their amusement.

"Is there a problem, Sota?" he asked.

"No, Master Taku," he replied, adverting his gaze, no longer feeling worthy to be in the waterbending mater's presence.

"Then pay attention," he said sternly. With a nod from the young man in question, the elderly waterbender shifted his stance back into formation. All of the students followed suite, returning to the stance as well as they copied his movements. "Remember, children; the key is to move fluidly. To properly perform this move, you must remain _focused_ ," he emphasized, throwing Sota another glance. "Let your worries pass through your body, and out of your arms, into your bending. If your mind is not clear, your movements will become stiff and ridge, making it impossible to do this properly."

The children proceeded to practice the move for the rest of class, their master nodding as they all worked it, and helping those who either had their stances incorrect or who were having trouble with the movement shifts.

"Alright, that's all for today, everyone. I want you all to practice and review that move for tomorrow because you will be tested. You are dismissed," Master Taku said.

Sota dropped his stance with a heavy sigh. As much as he loved waterbending class, lately, he hadn't been able to focus at all. Every time he left home, a pit of anxiety would grow in his stomach, making his already farad nerves even more so. Turning to take his leave and get home as soon as possible, Sota could feel all shred of hope he had accumulated in that short instance vanish at the sound of his name being called.

"Sota, a word," Master Taku commanded.

Sota cringed involuntarily, knowing all too well where this conversation was headed, but did as he was told, turning around and standing in front of the elder. A nervous sweat began to build on the back of his neck, though he did his best to ignore it.

"Yes, Master Taku?" Sota asked slowly in an attempt to keep his voice from shaking.

"Sota…is something bothering you?" Master Taku asked. "I'm concerned. Your bending has taken a significant decline in quality in the last few weeks, and you seem to be distracted quite often. Normally I would just attribute it to laziness and a lack of desire to learn, but with your case, I know that not to be true. When you first came, you were excelling very quickly and very well, especially for your age. I'm just wondering what happened to all that. Tell me, what has you troubled?"

It was times like this that made Master Taku one of Sota's favorite elders, second only to Master Katara. Though he was stern and held no room for foolishness, he was also very caring and protective of his students, going out of his way to help them whenever he could.

Sota swallowed the lump in his throat, taking a cool breath of arctic air to allow the fridge air to fill his lungs. He thought he was going to be in a lot more trouble, especially considering that this was the fourth time that week he had been caught not paying attention in class, and that was the last thing he needed at the moment.

"No, Master, everything is fine. I guess I've just been a bit preoccupied because of my sister. She's going to be returning home today."

It was true that Korra would be staying home for a few days, and that Sota was excited to see her. He always loved spending time with her and hearing all about her Avatar training. He especially loved when she would teach him new waterbending moves that no one in his class knew.

However, this was not the actual reason for his scattered brain behavior, but his master did not need to know that.

"I see," Master Taku said, the look in his eyes telling Sota that he wasn't the least bit convinced that this was the truth, though he seemed to accept it for now. "In any case, you're going to need to focus better if you hope to move on to the next level. If this continues, I will have to have a talk with your parents about it. Understood?"

Sota could feel his face pale as the color drained a bit at the thought of what his parents would say, more so his father, before giving a swift nod of understanding. Master Taku gave a nod of his own, dismissing the boy who took off for his home immediately.

The sun was high that late afternoon, illuminating the entire village as well as casting many shadows all around him. Sota paid it no mind though, his only thoughts being that he needed to get home as soon as possible without any more problems. He once again had that uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, and this did not sit well with him at all.

His suspicions were confirmed as he was suddenly assaulted with a large amount of water. The water was ice cold as it soaked him from head to toe. The force of the attack was no better as he soon found himself sliding into an open alleyway.

Sota breathed in and out heavily, clear puffs of smoke coming from his mouth with each huff while his body shook from the sudden shock of the cold water hitting him. A loud laugh caught his attention as his assailant walked up to him, towering over the young boy. Sota could only look into his face with fear.

"How's it hanging, shrimp?" he taunted.

"Hi, Urroq," he said quietly while adverting his gaze and slowly stood to his feet. As he prepared to bend the water off of his body, Sota suddenly found himself being attacked with more of it. As it finally came to a stop, Sota prayed that this would be the extent of his punishment, but was proven wrong as he was lifted off the ground by the front of his parka.

Terror and fear ran through his veins, showing in his eyes and body as he shook. Urroq, on the other hand, had nothing but mischief and malicious intent in his eyes.

"What's the matter, Sota? Don't tell me you're scared," Urroq taunted. "The little brother of the Avatar, all scared like a baby. Why don't you do something about it?"

"Let go of me, Urroq!" Sota cried out in a vain attempt, but that only seemed to make Urroq's smile bigger as he punched Sota in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Sota groaned before being hit with another couple of hits in the same spot. Sota instantly closed his mouth as he tried not to vomit, though his restless stomach didn't seem to want to agree with him today.

Watching as Sota began to stop struggling, Urroq dropped him to the ground. Sota held his bruised abdomen, cries of pain coming from his mouth, that were soon cut off as Urroq stepped on his back, forcing Sota to lay on his stomach in the snow. The cold land would have been a welcome relief, but he had no time to dwell on this as his warrior's wolf tail was yanked hard, forcing his head up as Urroq drove his knee into his back.

"Man, you're pathetic," Urroq taunted, a sick laugh coming after his insult. "I don't even know why Master Taku wastes his time on a piece of leopard-seal crap like you, or why you even bother trying. You're such a worthless bender, it's almost sad. What makes it worse is your hot-headed, loud-mouth sister is the Avatar. She probably took all the good bending skills and left nothing for you. Yet," he paused, putting extra pressure on Sota's back, delighted when he received another pain filled cry as his response, "you just think yourself all high and mighty because you're the Avatar's brother and get special treatment for no reason, something that you don't desrve."

Sota opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly silenced once more as his hair was pulled again. As more tears ran down his face, he could only question why this was happening, especially when he didn't think that about himself at all. Not that it mattered to Urroq, who leaned in toward him, whispering in his ear.

"But that's ok because I'm here, and I'm gonna help you remember your place."

* * *

Korra walked her way through the streets of the village, agitated beyond belief as she mumbled all manner of obscenities that she could think of. Every time she looked forward to something, her little brother had to ruin it. And this time was no different.

Having arrived earlier in the day, Korra had been ecstatic to be home with her family, though her brother was at bending class and her father was out working, which left her with just her mother to greet her. But Korra didn't mind at all, and spent the time telling her of the new skills she had learned and how advanced she was. Senna was more than glad to be an ear for her teenage daughter while she prepared her favorite dinner, which only seemed to excite the young Avatar even more. The second she smelled it, Korra had stopped dead in the middle of her sentence, her mouth literally watering. Senna, knowing her daughter, made sure to keep it out of site, however, knowing that Korra wouldn't be able to restrain herself it was that close to her, and Senna was determined to keep it that way until her men returned home so that they could eat as a family.

Korra of course wasn't too thrilled by this, but listened to her mother's wish regardless, though it was getting harder and harder as the time pasted. She knew her brother would be home soon from class, and then she could fill her time with catching up with him until their father got home not long after. Or, at least, that had been the idea.

After almost an hour of waiting for him to get home, and still no sign of him, Korra's patience had grown very thin, and she was ready to burst with impatience while her mother only grew more and more concerned. It never took Sota this long to get back from his class, so Senna was of course beyond worried about her son.

"Korra, maybe you should go look for him. It's not like him to be this late from class, and I'm starting to get worried," Senna said. Korra wanted to protest, but knew it was pointless; her mother always got what she wanted. Besides, the sooner she found him, the sooner she could come back home and eat.

"Fine," she mumbled from the table. Sliding her chair back, she quickly threw on her parka and headed outside, making her way toward the town.

Needless to say, the fourteen year old Avatar was not happy at all, silently promising when she found Sota, he was in for a serious beating if he didn't have a good explanation for being so late.

It took Korra only ten minutes to reach the training field, and, to no surprise, no one was there. Korra frowned, and made her way back toward her home, checking as many places as she could, but still finding no sign of Sota anywhere. Korra was beyond frustrated and was ready to scream in aggravation, when she was suddenly knocked off her feet as someone crashed into her.

Korra groaned as she sat up, Sota doing the same, his back turned to her. Korra's nostrils began to flare in anger as she reached out, grabbing her little brother by the hood of his jacket and preparing to give him a piece of her mind.

"What the hell, Sota?" she shouted at him. "First you're late getting home, which, by the way, has Mom worried sick about you. Then, I have to come out here looking for you, taking me away from her fish stew, which you know I've been waiting for, only to have you knock me over! I've got half a mind to-"Korra's throat instantly tightened, catching the rest of her threat in her throat as Sota turned over his shoulder to face her.

Sota looked terrible, almost as if he had been mauled by a wild animal. His bottom lip trembled, swollen as the blood rushed to it, crusted over with frozen, dried blood that was trailing from his nose, though thankfully it didn't look like it was broken or bruised in any way. Though the same could not be said for the large, disgusting, black eye that seemed to swallow up the right half of his face. Korra could feel her stomach twisting in horrified knots as her sisterly instincts began to surge with concern.

"Holy crap, Sota! What happened to you!? Are you ok?"

"I'm, fine," he rushed out, turning away from her and trying to pull away from her grasp. "It's nothing, really."

"Nothing? Sota, you look absolutely terrible. You look like you just escaped from getting mauled by a rabid Platypus-Bear. What the hell happened to you?" she asked again, gripping his shoulder tighter as he tried to pull away again. Korra narrowed her eyes; no, she wouldn't have any of that.

"I told you, I'm fine," he growled out, still refusing to look at her. "It was just a training accident."

"Oh really? How dumb do you think I am?" she declared, grabbing his warrior's wolf tail and giving it a swift yank. Her response was a yelp and an angry glance as he looked over his shoulder at her once more. She quickly grabbed his shoulders, turning him fully around to face her. Sota tried to pull out of her grasp, but it was completely useless seeing as she was not only six years older than him, but also incredibly strong from all her training. As she held tight, Korra forced him to gaze into her eyes as she tried to convey all love and compassion to him. "Sota…look, I don't know what's going on, but you can trust me. I'm your big sister, and I love and care about you, and I want to help, but I can't do that unless you tell me what happened."

"I…I…I got beat up after class…" Sota said quietly, averting his gaze from her as tears began to well up at the brim of his eyelids. Korra pulled him into a hug, careful of his injuries. His body shook softly against her as he cried all his pain and anguish out.

After a few minutes, he finally started to calm down enough to leave her embrace. Korra pulled back, wiping his eyes dry before helping him up to his feet and walking him over to a nearby fountain.

The two siblings sat quietly as Korra began to bend water out of the fountain and into her hands. The water began to twirl and spin, glowing a brilliant bright blue color. Korra then eased the water onto his face, letting the cooling effect work over his face as her healing powers worked their magic. Sota winced at the pain, wanting to pull away, but remained still so as not to get a lecture about sitting still from his sister as she helped him.

"I know, I know. It's gonna hurt a bit, but that's the only way to get it to work," Korra said, working over his eye. "So, what's the deal with this? Who beat you up?"

"His name's Urroq. He's another student in my class."

"You mean that twelve year old jerk who keeps failing to pass the basics class?" she asked, stunned as he nodded his head. "You let _him_ beat you up?"

"Well, it's not like I just tell him it's ok to do it. He's way bigger and stronger than me in case you didn't notice."

"Well, why is he picking on you? Did something happen between you two or something?"

"No, he just doesn't like me, I guess," he said, lying to her. Korra didn't look convinced at all; he was hiding something from her. Or at least trying to anyway.

"Are there more injuries on your body?"

"…yes…"

"Why haven't you told anyone about this?" she asked, getting angry at the thought of some muscle headed idiot beating up on her baby brother. "Do Mom and Dad know?"

"It's only been happening for a few weeks…and no, they don't know…I don't want to tell them," he said quietly.

"What!? Sota, what is wrong with you?" Korra shouted jumping to her feet in front of him as the water stopped glowing, splashing to the icy earth beneath her. "You need to tell them about it, or your teacher, or someone! No, you know what? I'll handle this!"

"What!?" he said in surprise.

"I'm gonna find this kid, and show him what happens when you-"

"No!" Sota protested, jumping onto his feet as well. "That'll only make things worse, Korra! Just, don't do anything! Everybody in my class already hates me because of you!"

"What!? Sota, how is this my fault!?"

"Everyone hates me because I'm the Avatar's brother! Everyone's jealous because of it and hates me. They keep saying that's the only reason I'm a good bender. After a while, Urroq started beating me up because of it, and everyone knew about it and they actually praised him for it. And it's all your fault! If you do anything, they would think that I sent you to beat him up and it would only distance them from me even more!"

"Sota, you can't just let this slide! I'm not just gonna sit by and let this kid kick the crap out of you like this," Korra protested, her temper flaring at his accusation. "Either you're gonna tell Mom and Dad about this, or I'll handle it myself!"

"Just shut up and mind your own business, Korra!" He shouted before taking off and running toward his home.

Korra clenched and unclenched her fist repeatedly, the ground beneath her feet rumbling as it shook under her anger, ice and snow cracking under her intense bending power. With an angry growl, she stomped after her brother.

 **To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The silence that engulfed the dinner table that night was eerie as the family of four ate, the only sounds coming from the sounds of their chopsticks hitting their dishes. After their argument, Korra and Sota had taken to ignoring each other, neither saying a word as they made their way home in angry silence. Their only form of communication was the hateful glares they would give each other.

As soon as they got home, Sota greeted his mother and father respectfully, apologizing for being so late. Both reassured him that it was fine, not noticing Korra's look of irritation as she put away her parka and made her way to the table. She only paused to greet her father with a hug, having missed him during her training.

Senna wasted no time in bringing out the hot meal she had prepared for them, making sure everyone got a generous amount of stew and rice to fill their bellies. The two parents made light conversation with each other as Tonraq talked about his day and about how excited he was that Korra was home. The young avatar smiled lovingly at her father, but didn't miss the hate filled look Sota gave her before averting his eyes and staring back at his food as he continued to eat.

Tonraq then asked Korra about her training, and much like she had done earlier with her mother, Korra obliged, giving him the full run down of how it was going and how she was progressing, though she did it with much less enthusiasm then she had with her mother. As she finished up, she noticed that her drink was swishing around in her cup on its own before icing over and freezing solid. Her eyes narrowed as they locked onto her brother's identical ones, daring him to even try to go through with the very clear threat he was trying to place before her.

The two siblings sat, not moving as their eating had stopped and breathing because quiet. Senna and Tonraq paused in their own eating, confused at their behavior of their children. It was at this point that they realized that something was wrong between the two and that they were upset with each other. Senna wondered if something had happened between the two when she had sent Korra out to find him. What other explanation could there be for their behavior, especially since usually the two could barely keep food in their mouths when they saw each other, given how rare it was now that Sota had begun his waterbending training and Korra's avatar training had become more intense.

"Is everything alright, kids?" she asked, looking back and forth between the two. "Normally you two are so lively when you see each other, your father and I can barely keep up with what you're saying. But tonight, you haven't said a word to each other since you got home."

"Did something happen on the way home?" Tonraq asked, just as concerned as his wife.

"Nothing's wrong," Sota said quickly, though very calmly. The two parents looked at him, convinced for sure that something was up. Korra noticed this as well, and though she would have loved to watch him squirm under his parents gaze, she knew that her parents wouldn't push him open up to them, and knew she'd have to handle this.

"Nothing happened," she said, turning he gaze back to her food and picking up a delicious piece of fish from her stew, engulfing it greedily. "Sota and I just decide that it would be better to be a bit more polite and well mannered while eating. After all, it's always best to _respect_ our elders, isn't that right?"

Sota narrowed his eyes at her once more, irritated that she was trying to weave her way under his skin. Unfortunately, it was working and working well. What made it worse was that her composure was completely calm and collected, the exact opposite of what he was feeling which consisted of nervousness and stressful anxiety.

Realizing that his parents were waiting for his response, Sota nodded his head. "Yes, that's right."

The two fell silent once more, keeping their gazes away from each other for the time being so as not to arouse more suspicion from their parents. Tonraq and Senna, though confused by their children's behavior decided it was best not to press the issue for the time being and to let the two of them cool off.

The table was silent once more as they returned to eating. As Korra picked up her still frozen drink, melting it back into its original form and taking a large gulp from it, she spoke once more, keeping her eyes down.

"So, Sota. How's your waterbending training coming along?"

"It's going well, Korra," he said, not looking at her either. "Master Taku said that my progress is going very well and that I might be good enough to move onto more advanced techniques if I keep up the work I've been doing."

"So all that extra training is pay off?" Tonraq asked with pride at hearing how well his son was doing. Sota nodded his head to his father, happy to see the smile on his face, and prepared to smile back, but didn't get the chance to as Korra continued speaking.

"Extra training, huh? What have you been teaching him, Dad? Icing moves? Bending motions? _Self defense?_ " Korra asked, putting extra emphasis on the last part. Sota finally looked back up, glaring at his sister.

"What do you mean, Korra?"

"I mean, does Sota-"

"Dad's been helping me with my stance changes and how to put more power into my moves. I'd be more than happy to give you a personal demonstration after dinner if you'd like," he said in a very calm and cool manner, though the threat was still very hot and noticeable to her.

Korra quickly slammed her dishes back onto the table, startling her parents as she and Sota once again locked gazes, her anger very clear and present. "Are you threatening me!? You know, I was trying to do this as civil as possible, but if you wanna drop all the pretenses, that's fine with me!"

"Alright, enough you two!" Senna declared, pushing her daughter back down onto her seat. "Korra, calm down. I will not have you two fighting in my house, so one of you better explain what's going on."

"Sota's been getting his ass kicked by a kid in his class and is too chicken to say anything about it!"

"Korra!" Sota shouted, an angry sense of betrayal and hurt creeping into him.

"Korra, watch your language, young lady," Senna reprimanded before turning back to her son, a look of worry and concern on her face. "Sota, is this true?"

Sota remained quiet as his family's intense gaze bore down on him. His mind raced with possible ways that he could get out of this, but now that it was already said, there was no way his parent were going to believe him now. Especially if Korra mentions that she healed his injuries from earlier.

Giving a stiff nod, Sota kept his gaze down as his mother gasped and his father gapped at him, shocked.

"How long has this been going on?" Tonraq asked his son gently.

"Since I started training with Master Taku a few weeks ago," he said, still refusing to look at anyone. "The other kids can't stand me and usually ignore me if they can. Everyone except Urroq; he's the one that's been beating me up all the time. He tells everyone that I get special treatment and that I'm really a bad bender…all because I'm the Avatar's brother." His words were harsh as he glared at Korra who continued to look at him intently; she wasn't letting this go until he told them everything and something was done about it.

"When was the last time he beat you up?" Tonraq asked as he tried to remain calm, a sense of anger bubbling up in him as well at the thought of someone trying to hurt his son.

"…after class earlier today…Korra fixed my wounds."

"Korra, you knew about this and didn't tell us?"

"No, I didn't know. At least I didn't until I found him earlier after he got the crap beaten out of him," she said.

"Looks like I'm going to have to have a talk with your teacher then," Tonraq said, getting to his feet and preparing to head out the door.

"Dad, wait, I-" Sota tried but was interrupted again.

"I'm gonna go find that kid and give him a serious piece of my mind," Korra said as she too got to her feet.

"Korra, no," Senna declared as she stood as well, leaving only her son still in his seat. "You're not going to go out there and cause more trouble."

"Trouble started when he thought he could get away with hurting my brother. When I find him-"

"NO!" Sota shouted as he finally joined his family by standing as well, nearly knocking the table over in his anger rush to his feet. "I don't need or want your help! You're just going to make everything worse!"

Without another word, Sota turned on his heels and ran out of the hut, his parents calling out after him. Tonraq prepared to go after him, but was cut off as Korra beat him to it, running out of the hut and ignoring her parents as they called out her name. Their cries feel on deaf ears as Korra focused solely on one thing-protecting her little brother.

* * *

"Urroq!" Sota shouted down the hill toward the older boy as he entered the clearing. Sota wasn't surprised to find him here with a bunch of other kids, tossing snow and water at each other. Urroq paused in his attack, turning to look at Sota as he made his way toward him.

A large grin spread across his face as Sota stopped in front of him, anger in his features. "Well, well. It's the runt. What are you here? Came for another lesson?"

Sota didn't say anything to him as his stance shifted into an attack position, surprising the other kids who had stopped their bending fight to watch the confrontation go down between the two. Urroq raised an eyebrow in surprise, but couldn't help laughing at Sota's attempts at being tough.

"Look, why don't you get lost and go home. You're not wanted here," Urroq said, turning his back and waving Sota off. However, he didn't get far, as Sota raised water into his hand, launching it at Urroq in the form of a whip. The water quickly struck the older boy in the back, pain flaring up into him. Turning around in anger, Urroq soon lost his balance as Sota brought the whip back and struck again, wrapping it around his ankle and pulling it upward, resulting in his opponent facing the darkening sky.

Sota pulled the water back, getting back into position, and posed, ready for attack as he spoke, "You're not going anywhere. You, me. Now!"

Urroq growled in anger as he pushed himself up onto his feet and glared at the younger boy. Finding his own balance, Urroq gave a mighty stomp which caused the ground around him to splinter and crack as he too brought water up in preparation for battle.

The other kids suddenly began to feel very nervous about what was about to go on. "Um…we should probably get going. It's getting kinda late, guys," one of the boys said, pointing upward to the sky which was starting to show the first signs of night as the moon started to come into view and the stars began to twinkle. "You coming, Urroq?"

"Scram," he called, eyes never leaving Sota's. "I'm gonna teach this runt once and for all where his place is."

"Are you su-"

"I said scram!" he shouted, startling them all. No one else questioned him as they all made way back toward the village, some of them placing bets on what was going to happen, most of which resulted in a gruesome beating for Sota. The two benders continued to stare at each other for a few moments, each of them feeling the power of the moon making them more powerful. "I hope you're ready to beg for mercy, runt, because this'll be the last night you ever try bending again."

"We'll see who's begging when I get done with you," Sota yelled, launching a large ball of water at Urroq who quickly intercepted it and launched it back at him, adding pressure to it. Sota caught the water, but felt himself slide back from the added power of his opponent who was smirking at him darkly before jumping into the air and slamming his fist to the ground, creating a small shockwave as a fissure started to open up. Sota felt himself fall off balance, but quickly scampered out of the way as Urroq launched another attack at him.

Looking up at him with in anger, Sota could only pray to the spirits that he hadn't just made the biggest mistake of his life.

* * *

It had been over an hour already, and Korra still had no idea where her brother was or where to find this kid who had been bullying him. She ran from one end of the village to the other and still hadn't found any sign of them, and it was getting late. The moon had already risen and was high in the sky above her, giving the snow a lovely white glow, though that meant little to her.

"Ugh, this is hopeless!" she shouted in annoyance. "This would have been so much easier if I had Naga with instead of at the compound. How am I supposed to-" Korra paused as she heard the sounds of a struggle going on not too far from where she was. A loud scream of pain reached her ears, and she instantly felt both dread and hope flood her features. "Sota!"

Korra wasted no time following the sound which led her to a large open field of snow. Her eyes fell upon the only two people in the clearing, one of which was her younger brother, looking more than a little worse for wear as he tried desperately to push himself up, but was failing as his arms shook from exhaustion and various injuries that she could see even from her spot on top of the hill.

Anger flooded her body as she ran down the hill, preparing to attack the boy as he towered over her brother, water raised for another attack on his downed opponent.

Urroq grinned, his few injuries barely even being noticed as he prepared to strike Sota who was now on his hands and knees, exhausted, sore and bleeding as he breathed heavily, struggling just to keep himself up.

"Say your prayers, runt!" he shouted, bring his arms down, the water following through. Sota looked up, fear in his eyes as everything seemed to move in slow motion for him.

"Sota!" Korra screamed in fright she pushed herself to run faster, though she knew she would never get there in time or be close enough to them to stop the attack.

Sota could feel his body moving on its own as his brain tried to process what exactly it was going to do. His hands shot up, not in defense, but into an attack position, as if it were going to attempt to intercept the water again. In the back of his mind, Sota knew that this was not going to work as he had tried to do it more times than he could remember in this fight, yet he could still feel his own Chi, flowing through his arms and upward. However, what happened next surprised not only Sota, but both Korra and Urroq as well.

The water came splashing down, falling uselessly on the ground between the two boys who had both stopped moving. Korra too had stopped moving, coming to a dead stop a few feet from them, her eyes wide in disbelief and fear.

Sota could feel his body shaking relentlessly, his gaze shifting upward to Urroq's terrified eyes, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. He could still feel his bending working, but the water had hit the ground already, so what could he have been holding on to? There was clearly no water being bent, so what was? Sota could still see Urroq's body, which was now shaking and twitching violently, in the same position it had been moments ago when he prepared to strike him, but he was still not moving.

Was he taunting him? Pretending to not be able to move so that Sota would believe that he would leave himself open to an attack? Did he really believe that he could be that weak?

Sota could feel his anger growing at the mockery, and shifted his hands down, preparing to grab more water to attack. However, as Urroq gave a pain filled grunt, falling to his knees, Sota's anger vanished in an instant, replaced with pure fright.

Why had that happened? That wasn't right. Sota gingerly moved again, flexing his fingers and raising his hands, only to see a similar reaction come from his bully as his back bent backwards, head jerking back as a loud scream echoed from him as well as loud, disgusting popping noises. Sota could feel the color drain from his face as the pieces finally started to fall into place in his head.

He was bloodbending.

Sota could feel panic start to bubble up in his body as he thought of all the trouble he was going to be in if anyone found out that he was bloodbending, an illegal act of waterbending that he shouldn't even know how to do. What was he going to do!?

His gaze quickly fell back to Urroq who was still twitching and convulsing painfully in the snow. This was all his fault, Sota decided. It all started with him, and he had caused Sota to do this. And yet, here he was, completely helpless and under his mercy now.

Sota could feel the urge to make him pay for all the torment he had put him through building up, working its way to his fingers and begging him to do it more, to make him really suffer. He had Urroq right where he deserved to be; right where he always ended up, at someone else's mercy. Even though he knew it was wrong and that he shouldn't feel this way, Sota wanted to do it more, to hurt him more and to really test his power on him.

"How does it feel," he growled, menacingly as Urroq stared into his eyes. "How do you like feeling helpless and at someone else's mercy, you jerk!?" Urroq said nothing as he continued to twitch uncontrollably. This only fueled Sota's rage as he shouted, "Answer me!"

"P-please…" Urroq begged, his voice shaking. This surprised Sota for a moment, but he somehow enjoyed hearing the weakness in Urroq's voice. However, what he hadn't expected was to see tears rolling down the boys face. "No…m-more…" he begged.

"Sota!" the shouting of his name startled the boy. Looking up, he came face to face with his older sister as she stood behind Urroq. The fear had left her face, being replaced by both worry and disappointment. Sota could see it in her eyes, which only seemed to shake him more to the core when she spoke again. "That's enough, Sota. He's had enough. It's over. This isn't you."

"Korra?" he voice finally reached him again, shaking as tears of his own began to fall down his face as he stared into his sister's eyes. "Korra…" he repeated, sadness and desperation etching her name, shaking and breaking his resolve.

His arms dropped lifelessly to his sides as he stopped bending, releasing Urroq who quickly crumpled to the ground as his body went slack. Sota felt his body grow weak as his knees gave out, forcing him to drop to the ground once more. Korra was in front of him instantly, dropping to her own knees as she let her little brother drop into her open arms with no resistance. As moisture ran down her face, Korra ignored the surprise in her that she had started crying without noticing it, and clutched him tighter to her as he lay, unmoving in her eyes, his eyes half closed in a vacant stare into the night. The moon reflected into his gaze, it's beauty almost like a taunting reminded of the power it proved him moments ago.

Everything was quiet as the two siblings remained still like that, neither noticing as Urroq shakily got to his feet and backed away in fright before turning around and taking off into a full on sprint out of the clearing.

Time ticked away as they continued to sit in the field, neither paying attention to it as Korra rubbed circles into her brothers back in a soothing manner. Their tears had long dried, but the streaks remained untouched on their faces.

"Korra…" Sota said, he voice small and sad, almost as if he were in pain. "I'm sorry…"

"Shh…" she said to him. "It's ok, Sota. You didn't mean to do it. It was an accident."

"Korra…I liked it…" he said as the feeling of it replayed in his mind as well as the look of fear it brought. "The power…it felt good, Korra. I liked how it felt to make him suffer, to be the one in control…I liked hurting him, and…I'm so scared, Korra…I'm scared of this feeling and I'm scared…of what's going to happen to me…"

Korra said nothing, as she helped him to his feet, preparing to take him home to heal him, but stopped at the sight of lanterns coming over the hill toward them. A group of people were heading their way, lead by both her father and Urroq. Sota's body went rigid next to her as he held onto his sister for dear life.

"Korra, Sota!" Tonraq said as he reached them, gingerly hugging them. "Thank god we found you two."

"Dad," Sota said, looking up at the man, but his voice cut off as he looked back to the ground, shame filling his mind. How could he look his father in his eyes after what he had just done? Sota shook as the tears started to flow again. Tonraq pulled his son to him, holding the young boy while still being careful of his injuries.

"It's ok, son. Everything's going to be fine now," he reassured.

"Dad…I-"

"He's a bloodbender!" Urroq shouted to the crowd, shocking everyone, including Tonraq who turned back to the older boy in surprise.

"What? That's impossible. Sota can't be a bloodbender," he said, to which many of the crowd agreed.

"But he is! He was bloodbending me earlier!"

"Had to believe that he had done anything to you considering how uninjured you seem to be, while Sota looks as though he can barely stand," Master Taku said, eyes narrowed in accusation. Urroq flinched away from him, turning back to Sota, thought Tonraq's gaze had a similar effect on him. Looking around them, his eyes quickly fell onto Korra who was still clutching her brother.

"There, ask her! She's the Avatar, she knows what bloodbending looks like, and she saw the whole thing!" he said, pointing to a now startled Korra. "Tell them, Avatar."

Korra looked to her father who gave her a questioning look. "Well, Korra? Did you see what happened?"

Korra paused for a moment before speaking. "Yes, I did. And what I saw was this kid towering over my little brother, and beating him up. I tried to get to Sota before he could, but didn't make it in time. When he saw me coming, he ran off and just left Sota here in the snow," she said, narrowing her own eyes at him.

"She's lying! You're the Avatar! You're supposed to-"

"Don't tell me what I'm supposed to do!" she shouted at him.

"You're just trying to protect that monstrous little-"

"That shall be quite enough," an elderly voice said. Everyone turned as Katara made her way through the crowd and toward the Avatar and her brother. Sota took a shaky step back as the elderly waterbender touched his bruised face, her eyes burrowing into his own. The two locked gazes for a few seconds before Katara turned away from him and back to the crowd.

"The accusations are false," she declared. "This boy has great potential for bending, but even he is not powerful enough to do such a technique at such a young age." Looking back to Urroq, she continued. "It's clear that what Avatar Korra has stated is true; this boy, caught in hurting another, ran away and fabricated the bloodbending story in an attempt to take the pressure off of himself."

"Much like I suspected," Master Taku said, grabbing Urroq and leading him away. "I think it's time we had a word with your parent about this."

"But Master Taku, I swear, I'm not lying!" Urroq protested as he was dragged away. The rest of the crowd began to disperse, leaving on Katara, Tonraq and his children in the clearing.

Katara quickly bent water into her hand, activating her healing power before delicately working on Sota who flinched every so often.

"Thank you, Master Katara," Tonraq said gratefully.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Korra said. "We really appreciate you sticking up for Sota."

"I simply did what I know was the right thing to do," she said. "Bloodbending may be a horrible thing, but I know what happened was an accident."

Sota and Korra gasped as they looked into the knowing eyes of Katara, while Tonraq looked at them questioningly.

"You…you knew…" Sota said, not questioning her wisdom.

"I could sense it in you when you I touched you. I always knew you would grow to be a powerful bender, Sota, but never had I imagined that you would be able to do something like this at such a young age."

"Master Katara-" Korra began, but was stopped as her master held up her hand, silencing her.

"I will not reveal Sota's bloodbending abilities to the tribe, Korra. As I said, I know what happened was an accident, and not something that he intended to do. However," she paused, addressing all three in seriousness. "You cannot let it happen again. The tribe will grow suspicious and if that happens, there won't be anything I can do to help you." He next words were directed directly at Sota, whose eyes were wide in fear. "You're a very strong bender, Sota, but don't let that power corrupt you. You can do great good with that power, but you can also do great evil. Only you can truly decide which path you will take."

Sota nodded his head, though his eyes still held fear and uncertainty. What if he couldn't control the power? What if he hurt someone he cared about? Or worse.

Korra placed her hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look up into the smiling faces of her and their father.

"Don't worry, Sota. I'll be there with you every step of the way to help. I promise," she said confidently.

"Because it's you job as the Avatar?" he asked quietly.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Because it's my job as you big sister. I'll always look out for you."

A small smile came to his lips as he replied, "And I'll always look out for you too, Korra."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sota sat on the roof of the canopy watching the battle in front of him intently, cringing as he watched his sister shoot a rather large fireball from her fist. The fireball jetted out forward, propelling the first of the White Lotus Sentries into the air where he then proceeded to come crashing down a feet from Sota on the top of the canopy.

There was no doubt in the twelve year old waterbenders mind that this guy was going to be more than just a bit sore in the morning, and though felt a small amount of guilt as well as a need to apologize for his sister, he was much too distracted with his excitement of watching Korra to really bother caring.

There was no doubt in his mind that his big sister had come a long way in her Avatar training these past few years. Not long ago, he remembered her telling him how excited she was to be taking her firebending test, something he didn't doubt since it seemed to be her favorite element to learn. Her firebending was just as fierce and strong as her attitude, and with every single dodge and strike, the fire flew around effortlessly as if even at a distance, she had control over it once it left her hand. It was that kind of bending proficiency that Sota hoped to achieve to one day achieve in his waterbending.

"She's strong," Sota overheard Master Katara say. A smile had broken out on his face at the voice. Master Katara was one of his favorite people in the entire world. She was always kind to him, giving him special treats or bending lessons when he came to visit Korra, which he had taken to doing more and more frequently after the bloodbending incident that he had been involved in three years ago.

He had been worried that she would be upset with him, or worse, but was beyond relieved when she had told him of her first bloodbending venture. The story really hit home to Sota and he vowed that he would become a better bender so that that would never have to be a better option.

"She lacks restraint," The White Lotus leader said snidely. Sota felt his mood instantly soured and his temper flared, a trait that he definitely picked up from and shared with his sister. Preparing to jump down and give the man a piece of his mind, as well as blow his cover, he was quickly interrupted as he watched the last firebender charge at Korra with a steady stream of fire shooting from his palms.

Of course it was no surprise that she charged head first into the fire like the reckless person she was, making sure to bend an opening for herself. Using the man for a spring board, Korra launched herself into the air and kicked another fireball at him, creating a distraction. Turning, she shot a stream of her own fire at him from her fists. The power man had no chance, hoping only to protect himself by covering his head as the fire seemed to swallow him up as well as push him backwards. As the fire came to a stop, he limply rolled out of it before fainting in a smoking heap on the ground.

Sota could only watch speechlessly, his eyebrow twitching back and forth, as the other sentries picked up their fallen friend and carried him away. _Ok, maybe she does lack restraint._ He thought to himself as he shook his head, though a smile was present on his face.

He listened to his sister cheer in celebration as he snuck back off the roof, quickly making his way through the compound unseen, and headed for the animal stables. The instant he crossed the threshold, he was greeted by Naga who affectionately licked his face, elating a laugh from the young boy. Sota lightly petted the polar bear dog before hearing the sound of approaching footsteps. Quickly hiding behind the igloo that Naga called home, Sota watching intently, nervous that he may have actually been caught sneaking in here. Again.

The steps got closer and closer until, much to his relief, Korra came charging down the steps.

"Naga! You should have seen it!" Korra said excitedly as her companion came to her. "I kicked some serious firebender butt and I passed!"

"You probably also just set the record for the most number of injuries dealt out during one training session by any Avatar," Sota said with a smile as he came up from behind his hiding spot.

"Sota!" Korra cheered in even more excitement at see her little brother. Running up to him, the two met in a tight embrace before pulling back. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you actually snuck in here again?"

"Hey, I learned from the best, didn't I?" he answered, a mischievous grin on his face. "I actually came to watch you take your fire test. I was hoping to get here before to wish you good luck, but clearly, you didn't need."

"Aww, thanks Sota," she said, hugging him again. "It really means a lot to me that you came to see me. How's your training going?"

"It's ok, I guess," he said with a bit of unease. After what happened years ago, it had been difficult for Sota to take normal bending classes since most of the kids were now afraid of him. Though the parents of the village didn't believe that a boy as young as him could be a bloodbender, but children were much more easily swayed. Needless to say, Sota had instantly become an outcast amongst his peers, many of them calling him a monster and things of that nature, especially after Urroq had exaggerated the experience.

The others were horrified by what they believed to have happened, and when questioned about it, Sota felt much too guilty about having actually done it to deny anything that he was accused of. After that, he became the number one target for all the kids during practice as well as when he would head home, often causing him to have to dodge water and constantly check over his shoulder as he lived in a constant state of fear. Senna and Tonraq decided that it was best that he be taken out of the classes, and Tonraq took it upon himself to try to teach his son, though it turned out to be more difficult than he had anticipated.

The spirits must have been smiling down upon him as Katara, having heard about the predicament, volunteered to be his new bending teacher, something he readily and happy accepted. He had come a long way training with her the last few years, and he hoped to only get better. Of course, it would be a long time before he was anywhere near Korra's level, something that was a constant bother to him though he tried not to show it now that he visited the compound for his lesson and spent more time with her. However, there were certain days he wasn't supposed to be there, today being one of them as the White Lotus wanted to be sure that Korra was completely focused on her test and not distracted.

Korra gave a sympathetic smile to him, ruffling his hair which had grown significantly. Sota no longer kept a warrior's wolf tail like he had in his younger days. His hair was now just short of his shoulders though it was all tied together at the end with a single loop, creating a ponytail at the end. Sota happened to like his hair, and hated when anyone ruffled it, especially Korra who seemed to do it often just to annoy him.

"Hey, don't sweat it, ok? You'll get the hang of it soon enough. I mean, you're training with Katara, the woman who's taught two Avatars and was a bending prodigy and waterbending master at the age of 14. No one's better at teaching then her."

"Thanks, Korra," he said with a genuine smile. "So does this mean you're gonna be starting your airbending training soon?"

"Sure am, and I can't wait! Tenzin's gonna be here in a few day!"

* * *

A large smile spread across Korra's face as the loud skybison flew over her, Sota and Katara before landing. The excited young Avatar took off toward their guest while Sota trailed behind a hit, allowing Katara to greet her family and catch with them. Looking to his big sister, Sota could practically fell the excitement rolling off of her, and tried to contain his own excitement as he watched one person in particular.

Her grey eyes were unfocused as she asked her grandmother a question about a story she had read, leaving her guarded down. An evil smirk came to his face as he bent a large snowball between his hands. Carefully aiming, Sota let the snowball fly, and laughed manically as it nailed her right in the back of the head, elating a loud shriek of surprise as cold, wet snow dripped down her neck and into her shirt.

Jinora turned around, anger on her face as she locked eyes with him. "Sota!" she yelled, creating a scooter and charging toward him. Hearing their sister's cry, Ikki and Meelo turned toward the two and instantly got excited at the idea of a chase, creating air scooters of their own and following after her.

Sota yelped, turning on his heels and turning the ground under him to ice, allowing him to slide away from them. After putting a good amount of distance between them, he turned and began creating snowballs that he hurled mercilessly at them. His training was clearly shown to have been paying off as the three airbenders were showing to have a difficult time dodging the snow, that is, until one hit Meelo straight on in the face.

The boy cried out about his blindness, losing control of his scooter before veering to the left sporadically and crashing into Ikki, taking her out with him. Sota could feel the urge to gloat rising in him at having taken out the to, but refrained as he eyed Jinora and her determination to get him.

 _At least it's more of an even fight now._ He thought as he shifted his stance, staying put inside of trying to run like before. Jinora, using the built up momentum from her scooter, jumped up into the air, shooting slices of air at him. Sota evaded them by jumping backward out of the way. Unfortunately, he missed the rock behind him as he landed which then proceeded to knock him off balance which was all the opening that Jinora needed as she shot another blast of air at him, sending him flying straight into a large pile of snow.

Cheers of victory reached his ears as Sota dug himself out of the snow, the three airbender children smiling and boasting about their conquering over the waterbender.

"Airbender beats waterbender. Again," Jinora boasted happily.

Sota smiled as he got to his feet, bending the remaining snow off his body as she made his way over to his friend and hugged her. Jinora gladly returned the greeting, having missed the young man in the last few years since she had last seen him.

It was no secret to anyone that he and Jinora were best friends and cared deeply about each other. This was obvious from the first time the two met each other back when Jinora was only a few months old. Sota, being only two years older than her, was fascinated by the small baby he had met, and was even more fascinated when he found her to be an airbender, something he didn't even know existed. Though, he hadn't known that there were any other types of benders besides waterbenders, so this was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

From there, the two were near inseparable anytime that they were around each other, and even when they were separated, the two often wrote to each other to stay in contact. Katara was happy to see that both of them took so well to each other; they would need friends like each other growing up in the limelight that they were bathed in. Jinora, being not only the first airbender in her generation but also the granddaughter of Avatar Aang, and Sota, the younger brother of the new Avatar, Korra. The two understood the pressure that the other was under very easily, and she believed that that had been one of the many reasons that they connected so well.

"To be fair, I did take down two out of three airbenders, and if it hadn't been for that rock behind me, I would have had you too, Nora," he said as they separated, smirking at the displeased look she gave him at the nickname he had been using for her since she was a baby.

"JI-nora. You know I hate that nickname," she said, crossing her arms.

"And you only got lucky!" Ikki shouted. "You wouldn't have beaten us if Meelo hadn't crashed into me."

"I know; that's why I keep calling you that. Besides, you can't really blame me. You know I always had a problem saying your name when I was little." Turning to Ikki, he stated, "And you always find an excuse when you lose, Ikki. But whatever makes you feel better. You guys just better watch your backs from now on. You're on my turf now."

The smile instantly fell from Jinora's face as she uncrossed her arms. Sota instantly mimicked her expression, his gut telling him that something was wrong. Jinora looked at the ground uncomfortably as she tried to find the best way to say what she needed to, but before she could, Ikki interrupted her.

"Jinora, didn't Daddy say we were going home tomorrow?" Excitement started to flood her body as she began talking faster. "Did he change his mind? Are we going to be staying now? Oh I can't wait! We're gonna build snowmen, and eat yummy food, and-"

Jinora quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, but she knew it was too late; the damage had been done and the hurt look on Sota's face told her all that she needed to know. Sota could feel the sadness creeping into him as he tried to process what he had just heard.

"You're leaving tomorrow? I thought…your dad's supposed to train Korra and you guys were gonna be moving down here," he said, unable to hide the hurt in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Sota. My dad said that we can't stay right now. He said that Republic City needs him and that Korra's airbending training is going to have to wait. We're only gonna be here for the night," Jinora said.

Sota sighed, his breath coming out in a small puff of smoke before he collected himself and smiled back at her, though she could easily see it was forced and that he was still sad.

"Oh well. What can you do right? It sucks because I was really hoping that we'd all get to spend more time together, but looks like I was wrong. Thing never seem to go right, huh?"

Jinora shook her head, a sad smile on her face as well. "It's just how it is for our families; they're too important to the world for things to be normal. I just hope Korra takes the news ok."

"Yeah, well I'll tell you this; you may be an airbender, but don't hold your breath on that one."

* * *

Sota of course knew that he was right about how his sister would react, though anyone could have honestly guessed that. Korra had been more than bummed out when Tenzin had broken the news to her about the situation in Republic City. Though she understood why he couldn't stay, it didn't make her feel any better that she would have to wait for her training.

When she came up with the idea of going back with him to the city, her hopes were crushed even further when the Leader of the White Lotus shut that idea down immediately, stating that the city would be much too dangerous for the Avatar, and that she would just have to be patient, something she was terrible at.

Sota continued to think about the disappointing situation throughout his day with his friend and her siblings, and felt a ghost of pain when she had to leave for dinner, knowing that this would be the last time he would see her until they came back, whenever that may be. He shuffled his feet sluggishly as he made his way home, and barely said a word to his parents who took notice of his mood almost instantly as he quietly ate his dinner.

"What's bothering you, son?" Tonraq asked. "I thought you'd be bursting with excitement after spending the day with Jinora and the others."

"Sorry, Dad. I guess I'm still kinda bummed that they're not gonna be staying," Sota said, putting his chopsticks down. "I never to get see her and she's my best friend. I was really looking forward to this."

"Oh, honey," Senna said sympathetically as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're disappointed, but I'm sure it'll only be for a little while. Once things calm down in Republic City, Tenzin and his family will be back so that he can train Korra. But until then, we have to respect her father's wishes and be patient."

"I know, Mom. It just kinda-" Sota paused as the sound of thumping and barking came from outside. All three instantly recognized the sound of Naga as she made her way toward their home and got up, heading outside to see what the commotion was. All three waited as Korra rode her companion up to them before hopping off her back to meet them. "Korra? What are you doing here?"

"I…I came to say goodbye," she said delicately. Shock registered on the faces of her family as they looked at each other before looking back to her.

"What do you mean goodbye? Where are you going?" Sota asked nervously.

"I'm heading to Republic City. I can't just stay cooped up here in the White Lotus compound. The city is in trouble and it needs me. It's time that I stepped up to the plate as the Avatar and discovered my destiny."

The nervousness that Sota felt quickly turned to a feeling of anger and abandonment as he looked at his sister in betrayal. "So that's it, huh? You're just gonna up and leave us? Just like that?"

"Just for a little while, I promise. But I need to go and do this. I just couldn't do it without saying goodbye first."

"Korra, are you sure about this?" Senna asked as she tried to keep her composure.

"I'm sure, Mom. This is what I need to do."

"Then we have no choice but to trust your decision, Korra," Tonraq said, drawing her into a hug along with his wife. Sota stared at his family, feeling even more betrayal that his parents were allowing her to do this.

"Mom, Dad; I'll miss you," Korra said her head handing low.

"We love you so much," Senna said as she held back the tears in her eyes. Korra understood how her mother felt as she too was trying to hold them back. This would be the first time she ever left home, and it was scary to think she would be on her own, but she was determined to do this.

Moving past her parents, she came to her little brother, bending down to his level and attempted to hug him, only for him to step back away from her. Surprise and hurt came to her face as he took another few steps before turning around and running back into the hut. Standing up, Korra looked at the doorway longingly, but decided it was best not to pursue him; it would only upset him further and he needed time to adjust to the idea. She gave her parents one more look before climbing on Naga and riding away.

Korra continued to think about her brother's reaction all the way to the harbor. She wasn't angry with the way he acted, and she couldn't blame him for being upset. After all, he had just watched his best friend leave for who knows how long before he would see her again and now his sister was doing the exact same thing. He would be all alone now, with no one, and that hurt him more then he could deal with right now. Korra felt bad that she was doing this to him, but she had to do it; she had to do what was best for the world, and she could only hope that she was right about this decision. Of course, that would probably make no difference to him, but there wasn't anything she could do about that, even if she felt extremely guilty.

"What's the point in bring balance and peace to the world if you hurt the people you care about?" she mumbled to herself with a sigh.

* * *

The boat ride was going smoothly so far, which Korra was beyond thankful for. She had been luckily able to get onto a cargo ship easily enough without detection, and was now comfortably lying against Naga, her mind wondering about all the things she would experience in Republic City.

"I can't wait to get there. I've never been to the city before," she said, though her enthusiasm took a turn south once more as she thought about Sota. "I bet he's still mad at me. He's wanted to go to the city almost as much as I have. I hope Sota can forgive me soon for leaving him behind like that. I didn't think it would upset him that much though."

"Well, if you didn't make such impulsive decisions, maybe it'd be easier to not get so upset."

Korra yelped as she fell forward and looked behind her to see the smirking face of her little brother as he walked around from behind a box.

"Sota? What the hell are you doing here!?" she whisper yelled at him.

"What's it look like I'm doing here? I'm chasing my runaway sister on her adventure to Republic City," he said sarcastically as he took a seat next to her and relaxed against Naga who's head he petted lightly so as not to awaken the sleeping Polar Bear Dog.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," she replied unhappily. "Did you run away?"

"Yep."

"Sota! Are you crazy!? Mom and Dad must be worried sick about you! Do you understand the kind of trouble you're going to be in for doing this!?"

"Not as much trouble as you are when the Order of the White Lotus finds out you snuck out of the compound, that's for sure," he shot back.

"This is serious, Sota. How could you just leave like that?"

"How you could _you_ just leave like that?" he retorted. "Did you even consider how your decision would affect Mom, or Dad, or me, before you left? What about how we felt? I know you're the Avatar and all, but you're also our family and the only person I can really trust besides Jinora, and you just decided to leave me alone down in the South Pole."

"Look, Sota, I'm sorry, ok? But this was something that I had to do. I know I hurt your feelings, but I had to leave."

"Yeah, well so did I. So now we're stuck together."

"No way. As soon as we get to Republic City, I'm putting on the first boat back to the South Pole."

"And then I'll just jump off the boat and make my way back to land!" he shouted at her, angering her as his own anger began to rise. "I'm not going back, Korra, and that's final!"

"Yes, you are Sota, and I'm not gonna tell you again."

"You said you were going to the city to find your destiny, but what if this is _my_ destiny? What if I'm supposed to go with you and help you to become the Avatar you're supposed to be? This is a chance, not just for you, but for me too. A chance for us to experience the world together and to learn and grow, as brother and sister. So no, I won't be leaving because I'm not going to let an opportunity like this pass me up, when I know, deep down that this is what I'm meant to do."

Korra remained quiet as she stared into his eyes, a pleading look covered by pure determination. She knew, on some level, that he was right and that this very well could be his destiny just as much as it was hers, and that to deny him a chance to find it would just be wrong. Not to mention he had just as much of a right to see Republic City, and by extension, the world, as she did. But on another level, deep down, she couldn't help the protective big sister feelings that she felt, telling her that regardless of what he said, he needed to be sent back home where it was safe.

Korra debated with herself before a prolonged sigh escaped her lips, allowing her to speak before she could second guess herself. "Fine. You can stay. But I'm in charge, you hear me? And I mean it, Sota; 100% serious. One major screw up or disobedience, you're out of here and I'm sending you on the first boat back home, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya," he said with a roll of his eyes, though he couldn't help smiling in excitement. "No need to be any bossier than usual, Korra."

Korra grinned, grabbing him in a head lock and messing up his hair, laughing playfully as he struggled to free himself. Once he did, he quickly fixed his hair, ignoring the laugh at his displeased look.

 _Maybe this won't be so bad after all,_ she thought as they both relaxed against their pet.

Though she couldn't say for sure that this was going to be a good idea right now, the situation, though not ideal, was turning out pleasantly. Her journey was just beginning, and though it was a surprise that Sota was coming along with her, she could say without a doubt she felt a lot more confident about her decision to do this.

"Republic City, here we come," she said with a huge smile that Sota mirrored with a nod of his head.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The rattling and shaking of the boat jostled Korra awake as it came to a stop. Bright sunshine peeked into the cargo hold, shining right into her eyes through the window. The young Avatar groaned as she rubbed her eyes, excitement suddenly taking over as she realized that they had arrived. Turning to her two companions, Korra gently shook them both awake.

"Sota, Naga, wake up! We're here!" She said, jumping to her feet.

"What?" Sota asked, his tired mind catching up to the sound of a door being opened up. Blinking his eyes a few times, he suddenly felt the same excitement his sister felt coursing through his body. Hopping to his feet, he quickly grabbed his bad, adding it to Korra's belongings.

Korra looked at him questioningly as he hopped on to Naga, situating himself behind her. "What's all that?"

"I didn't really know what to bring so I grabbed a few things I thought that I'd need," he answered. "My bending scrolls and books, a couple weapons I made with Dad, and some clothes." Sota gave his current clothing a quick once over.

Having put away his parka, his tunic was the same shade of blue as most of the Southerners wore, the sleeves being short and cutting off at his elbows. His forearms were covered by deep blue gloves that started at his wrists and ended just past his elbows. His pants matched the coloring of his tunic, and his waisted was covered by a brown leopard seal pelt trimmed with white fur, and on his feet, were a matching pair of brown boots.

Once the two siblings were situated, Naga took off for the open door, rushing past all the dock workers as her paws padded against the ground quickly.

"Thank for the ride!" Korra cheered, waving to the workers as they rode away. Sota could only shake his head at his sister, before looking around him in amazement. The city was huge! He'd never seen any one place as big as this. As Naga slowed down at the end of the pier, he and Korra looked around at all the sights.

"Wow…look at this place," Korra said, taking in the breath taking city that just seemed to glow in the early morning sunlight. Her head turned to the bridge that was jam pack with people moving about on their way to work. "I've never seen so many Satomobiles."

"I've never seen so many tall buildings crammed together like this," Sota said. "It's gotta be a killer trying to get around here every day."

"All say. Can you believe we actually made it, Sota? We're finally in Republic City!" Korra said, guiding Naga to a railing across from them. Sota turned his head in the same direction that Korra did, amazed at the huge statue that rested in the bay.

Korra found herself mesmerized by the copper sight of her former life, staring at it in wonder. Sota was doing very much the same, silently comparing Korra to Aang. A smile came to his face at the thought of his sister having her own statue one day.

"Hey, look. It's you. You know, back when you were actually-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," she threatened with a glare. Turning her attention back to the bay, she quickly spotted the solitary island off in the distance. "Air Temple Island; that's where Tenzin lives."

Sota had to hide the excitement he felt at knowing that they were just a short swim away from where his friend and her family lived. He couldn't wait to surprise her when they showed up and told them that they were going to be staying while Korra finished her training.

Korra softly petted Naga as she turned to Sota with a grin on her face and asked, "Ready for a little swim, guys?" Before Sota could answer, Naga suddenly took off in the opposite direction, sniffing the air excitedly as she pulled her two passengers along. "Ok, ok! Food first, then Air Temple."

Looking around from behind Korra, Sota shrieked as the dove headlong into traffic, narrowly avoiding getting run over as Naga paid no mind to the metallic monsters. Korra and Sota called out to her, hoping to calm her down or get her attention, but after that seemed pointless, they soon found themselves yelling repeated apologies to the passing motorist and pedestrians. The loud sound of metal hitting metal made them turn around to see that a couple of Satomobiles had collided to avoid Naga, and Sota could feel the panic building in him; they were going to be in serious trouble.

Naga finally slowed down, sniffing the ground near a small food shop before sticking her head into the doorway happily. Sota took this moment to slide off her back, sighing in relief to actually be back on the ground again and that they were all still in one piece.

"Spirits, that was scary," he said, clutching his chest and turning to his sister. "I really hope that those guys are ok. The last thing we need is to get in more trouble for running people's satomobiles into each other."

"We'll worry about that later, " Korra replied as she hopped off Naga as well. "Let's just get something to eat so we can head to the temple."

"Good because I'm starving," he replied happily as they pushed Naga's head to the side, and squeezed into the small kiosk. "Naga, wait," he commanded, a small whine coming from her as she pulled her head back and sat patiently.

The cook looked at the two young water tribers in disinterest as they looked over the various delicious looking and smelling food. Korra quickly ordered one order of everything for them, anticipation causing Sota's stomach to growl. However, when the cook told them the price, Korra realized that she didn't have any money, turning to her little brother in hopes that he may have some, but he too shook his head. The cook snatched back the food, yelling at them. Dejected and hungry, the three walked away from the shop, Korra reassuring them that there was sure to be a place for them to rustle up some food.

An hour later, the three found themselves in the park, Naga walking in the pond as she caught a few fish and tossed them into her mouth. Sota sat by, keeping an eye on her as Korra roasted some fish with her firebending that they had managed to catch. As soon as the first one was done, Korra happily passed it her brother who smiled in thanks as he took a bite into it, gingerly holding the stick so as not to burn his fingers.

Sota hummed in satisfaction as he chewed the fish. It wasn't nearly as good as his mothers cooking or even traditional Southern Water Tribe food that you could get, but it was still pretty good. Seeing that her brother was happy and taken care of, Korra prepared to eat one of her own. Her eyes drifted to the sound coming from her left as the bush shook. A man quickly jumped out of it, shocking her as she tilted back into Sota, knocking him over as well. Looking at her in confusion, his eyes soon fell upon the man as well as he looked at him in questioningly while the man seemed to smile at the two in a rather friendly manner.

"Say, think I could get one of them tasty smelling fishies?" he ask, hands on the lapels of his jacket as he moved his arms up and down like a weird otter pengin.

Korra and Sota looked at each other, blinking a few times, before looking at the man again. "Oh, uh,yeah; sure," Korra said, somewhat uncertainly.

The man happily danced out of the bush, snatching up the last fish she had cooked and began eating at it ravenously. Sota looked at him, slightly disgusted by his eating habits as well as the smell coming from the bum that he could very clearly smell from all the way over there, and looked at his fish dejectedly as his appetite seemed to vanish instantly.

"So…do you… _live_ …in that bush?"

"Yes Presently, that is what I do call home," he said, before turning to look at it longingly. "Took me a while to procure a bush that beauteous. This park is quite popular with all the vagabonds."

 _Is that what he calls himself? I just thought he was a weirdo._ Sota thought, looking around to see if there were any other bums around.

"So, there are, a lot of you, out here?" Korra asked sadly. "I thought everyone in the city was, living it up."

The man laughed a hardly, carefree laugh, pointing to the two siblings. "Yeah, you got a lot to learn, newcomers. Welcome to Republic City!"

A loud whistle interrupted their conversation as the three turned toward the bridge to see a heavyset officer making his way over toward them.

"Hey, you! Stop! You can't fish here!" he cried out, jogging toward them with his baton in hand.

The bum quickly got to his feet, throwing a warning over his shoulder to them. "Best skedaddle," he said before literally diving back into the bush.

Jumping to their feet, Korra put her fingers in her mouth, whistling to Naga who came running out of the water instantly. Grabbing a hold of her little brother, Korra picked him and easily tossed him onto the moving polar bear dog before hopping on herself behind him. Grabbing the reins, Sota began to guild Naga out of the park. The officer continued to blow his whistle a few more times as they got further and further away. Korra and Sota allowed themselves one glance back to see the out of shape officer, huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath as well as the bum, waving cheerfully goodbye to them.

Both gave a sigh of relief as they put more and more distance between them and the park and reentered the actual city. Korra decided it was best that they finally made their way to the Air Temple now to avoid any other strange mishaps. Of course, that was easier said than done.

"Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders?" A skinny man yelled into his megaphone as he stood on a table. The man was very skinny and small, but very loud, even without the megaphone, and based on the shrillness of his voice, it was obvious that he was also very annoying. This instantly caught their attention as Sota slowed Naga down to a walk, eyeballing the poster behind him of a masked man who's eyes just seemed to bore into them, creeping them both out a bit. "Then join the Equalist! For too long, the bending elite of this city have forced non-benders to live as lower class citizens!"

Shock registered on Sota's face as he looked at his sister, who was just as shocked. What this guy was saying just didn't sound right to them. They were new to the city, yes, and may not have known about all it's going ons, but even that could tell that what this guy was saying sounded like complete and utter nonsense.

"Join Amon, and together, we will tear down the bending establishment!"

"What are you talking about? Bending is the coolest thing in the world!" Korra cried out in protest as the crowd turned to face her.

"And it sounds like you're just some loud mouth crock-pot if you ask me," Sota added.

"Oh yeah?" he asked snidely. "Let me guess, you're both benders, right?"

"Yeah, we are," Korra replied confidently.

"And I bet you'd just love to knock me off this platform with some waterbending, huh?"

 _I highly doubt that water would be the first thing she would use,_ Sota thought, though he could see the very obvious trap his sister was about to walk into, and attempted to stop her from saying anything that would make them look bad.

"I'm seriously thinking about it," Korra said back, crossing her arms over her chest. Sota could only groan as he smacked his forehead with his palm. She just had to say that, didn't she?

"This is what's wrong with the city! Benders like these two only use their power to oppress us!" he shouted, turning to look at them again with a victorious snarky grin as the crowd began to cheer in agreement as well as shout at the two of them. Korra then seemed to realize what had actually happened as Sota glared at her, a sheepish look on her face.

"I'm not oppressing anyone!" she tried to say over the crowd. "You-you're oppressing yourselves!" she finally shouted, a disgruntled look on her face.

Sota had finally had enough and grabbed the reins once more, guiding Naga away from the crowd as the speaker yelled out, "That didn't even make sense!"

The sour look stayed on Korra's face as they left the park and finally made it back onto the streets. Sota understood how she felt; that guy seemed really annoying just downright idiotic, but the crowd easily fed into what he was saying and were eating out of his hand. Of course, some of her frustration should have been on Korra herself as she had blatantly walked into the trap. Looking back at her, Sota spoke.

"So…that could have gone better," he said, a small smirk on his face as his sister glared down at him. Facing forward, he continued by saying, "Don't let that guy get under your skin, Korra. He doesn't know what he's talking about and everything he said is just a bunch of bull. Even if you didn't make any sense."

"Just shut up and steer over there," she ground out, pointing to a street with a row of shops. Hoping off Naga and walking next to her, she looked around at the various establishments and people roaming and perusing the various merchandise. "Let's see if someone can give us directions to Air Temple Island."

Sota nodded steered her forward with Korra at her side as they looked from one shop to the next for someone who may be willing to help them. They finally came to stop in front of a shop with two people sitting in front of it, playing a game of Pai Sho. One was an elder woman dressed in various purples, the other a young man in various shades of browns.

"Excuse me," Korra said, grabbing their attention. "I think we're lost-"

"We ARE lost," Sota corrected, receiving a look from his sister. He simply rolled his eyes but kept quiet nonetheless.

"How do we get to Air Temple Island from here?"

"You just head down this street, and-" the elderly woman began but suddenly stopped in panic as a fancy red Satomobile swerved around the corner, barreling down the street toward them. Jumping up, she quickly said, "Get moving you two; it isn't safe!"

Sota and Korra looked at the Satomobile in confusion as it came to a stop a few feet away. The front was made of gold and shaped with what looked to be a lion-turtles face on it. The vehicle was hooded, and inside were three men who climbed out, walking up to one of the shops. The three men were clearly of different nations given their clothing. The owner paused in his cleaning of his music player, fright coming to his face as one of the men spoke to him.

"Mr. Cho. Please tell me that you have my money, or else I can't guarantee I can protect your fine establishment," the waterbender threatened with a smile as the man on his left, a firebender, lit a flame over his palm with a similar smile.

"I'm sorry," Mr. Cho apologized nervously. "Business has been slow. Please, take one of my phonographs." He offered as he held out the shining red machine that he had been polishing moments ago. The firebender continued to smirk as he left his foot and brought it down on the phonograph, igniting it in the process as Mr. Cho stubbled backwards in fear, causing him to fall to the ground.

Korra and Sota stared at them in shock and anger; how could someone try t beat up and shake down a nice old shop owner like that, and then destroy his property like it was nothing.

"My friend here, is not a music lover. Give me the money, or else-"

"Or else what, Hoodlum?" Korra asked, a confident smirk on her face. The three benders turned to look at her in confusion then at each other before they started laughing.

"Listen, since you're obviously fresh off the boat, let me explain a couple of things; You're in Triple Threat Triad territory, and we're about to put you, in the hospital."

"Yeah, no. I don't foresee that happening," Sota said nonchalantly as he leaned forward on the saddle to relax for the show his sister was about to put on. "You really don't wanna get her more riled up then you already have."

"Shut it, kid. We'll deal with you after we get done with her."

"You're the only ones who are gonna need a hospital. And for your sake, I hope there's one nearby," Korra said, cracking her knuckles.

"Who do you think you are?" The waterbender asked, clearly annoyed with the two.

"Why don't you come and find out."

The waterbender could feel his eye twitching in annoyance as he dug into his coat, whipping out a large ball of water at Korra. The young Avatar easily caught it in her right palm, pushing it backwards and into his face where it instantly froze over. Stumbling forward as he tried to balance his now top heavy body, he was quickly disposed of as Korra gave his ice covered face a swift kick, sending him crashing to the front of the car. The ice shattered as he slid down to the ground.

Sota cringed as his head made contact, though he couldn't help chuckling at him. "I told you guys. You should have listened to my warning." Turning back to the fight, he saw that the earthbender was now trying to take a shot at Korra. "I'm telling you, you REALLY don't wanna do that."

Before he could even shift into position, Korra did first, kicking the ground and sending him flying into the air.

"What just happened!?" The elderly woman asked, her face pressed up against the young man's.

"Did she just earth bend!?" he asked as they watched the Triad come back to the earth, hitting a wire and a few ceiling tops before tearing through a flag and landing on a bunch of fruit where he then proceeded to fall to the hard ground.

"Yes, yes she did," Sota answered with another smirk. The firebender, now extremely freaked out, twirled his hands as he built up a fiery blast between his palms. Sota sighed, shaking his head. "What is with you guys? Didn't you learn from those last two idiots?"

The fire shot out toward Korra who easily bended it way and jumped into it, repeating her actions from her firebending test just a few days ago before grabbing his hands and pushing him backwards.

"Can she firebend too?" the Elderly woman commented again, quickly followed up by the young man.

"Can she be…?"

"Yep, she is," Sota answered for them as he watched his sister give the man a good toss through the window of an adjacent shop. He rolled his eyes at her overkill of attack but said nothing while he let her gloat.

"Got an idea of who I am now, chumps?" Korra boasted though it was short lived as the Satomobile came back to life, screeching as it drove by and nearly hit her. The firebender quickly hopped out the window, chasing down the vehicle. The earthbender gave him a boost as a bit of earth shot up from under him and tossed him into the back seat. Korra, none too happy, shouted, "You're not getting away!" as she bent the earth that chased them like a snake. The rocks hit the back tires, flipping the car into the air and sending it crashing into the ground once more where it lost control and plowed into a shop at the end of the street.

Korra ran to it, making sure that they were down, and smirked as Naga walked up with Sota on her back.

"You may have over done it a bit there, sis," he said. "Also, do you always have to jump _into_ the fire when you bend it?"

"Hey, it's the best way to get close to an opponent. And I caught the bad guys, regardless, what more do you want?" she asked before a loud wail sounded through the air. Looking up, the two were shocked to see an airship hovering above them.

"Republic City Police! Freeze where you are!" a man said over the loud speaker.

"Whoa," Sota said in awe. He's never seen anything like it before, and was even more amazed as people jumped out from the sides, firing off metal cables that jetted into the brick walls, allowing them to ease themselves onto the ground.

"Cool, metalbenders," Korra said as the landed and began walked up to them. "I caught the bad guys for you officers."

"Arrest them," an older officer said, pointing to the Triads. Sota recognized his voice from the loud speaker a moment ago, figuring that he was probably the guy in charge of this unit. As the three criminals were tied up, he walked up to the two of them, stating, "You two are under arrest too!"

Korra gasped in shock as Sota's face suddenly turned extremely pale. Fright ran through him as his mind processed the fact that he just heard that they were about to be arrested.

"What do you mean we're under arrest," Korra protested. "Those are the bad guys over there; they were smashing up a shop!"

"From the looks of it, you smashed up a lot more than that," he said unhappily.

"There's gotta be some mistake, officer," Sota pleaded. "You see, my sister is-"

"In a whole lot of trouble, and if you keep talking, you're gonna be too, kid," he said in a cold tone. Sota instantly shut up and watched as the officer shot his cables out at Korra who dodged and grabbed them.

"Wait, you can't arrest me; let me explain!" Korra tried to reason.

"You can explain yourself all you'd like; down at headquarters!" Retracting the cables, he began to attack Korra who continued to evade. Sota had little time to react as Naga slammed her body into the officer, knocking him down and running to Korra, allowing her to hop on. The other officers quickly gave chase, promoting Sota to pull on the reins and guide Naga away, the polar bear dog putting on her full speed.

As they turned a corner, one of the officers lunged at them, but was stopped as Korra put her foot out and kicked him back. Sota would have laughed if he wasn't so scared at the horrible situation that they had found themselves in. One of the officers suddenly appeared above them, firing his cables at them, though Sota was able to pull to the right just in time to avoid getting hit. The officer continued his pursuit on the metal cable above, firing again. With a swift yank, Naga turned a corner and headed for a small bridge.

The same officer who had been following them from the rooftops jumped into the air, firing his cable once more, only this time, it hit its mark as it wrapped tightly around Korra's ponytail. Korra groaned in pain, quickly throwing her arms up to create a wall of ice that the officer wasn't able to stop in time to avoid. The pressure on her head suddenly became slack as the cables fell, the officer sliding painfully down the ice. The siblings felt a sudden wave of relief at the thought that they had gotten away, though it was short lived.

Naga climbed up a pair of stairs, narrowly avoid another satomobile as she ran on the upper bridge. A scrapping noise alerted them that they were still being pursued by the metalbending police. Korra reached over Sota, grabbing the reins for a moment and yanking them to the right. Naga followed the direction she was being led and jumped over the railing, landing very ungracefully on a moving train car. Once Naga had righted herself, both Sota and Korra gave a sigh of relief that they were ok.

Looking up and to their right, they could easily make out Air Temple Island, as if it were waiting for them. Distracted, the two didn't notice the airship over head until it was too late and already wailing at them. Pulling on the reins, Korra pulled them toward a building, having Naga jump toward it, but she was quickly intercepted by metal cables that suspended her in the air, pulling her further and further from the ground in a very uncoordinated swing. Before either bender could react, they soon found themselves wrapped in the same cables, unable to move as they were carried off to the police station.

* * *

Sota's head laid limply on the table as he tried to hold back the tears of fear and regret he was feeling.

"Less than 24 hours, and we're criminals. We're going to have police records, Korra," he mumbled into the metal surface, his mind running with all types of possibilities of what was going to happen to them, especially once their parents found out.

"Calm down, will you?" Korra said, though she was secretly panicking a bit too. "I'm sure once I explain what happened and tell them who I am, it'll all be fine."

"We're doomed," Sota said, looking up as the door opened, Korra gave him a quick glare, but dropped it as an older woman with a scar on her face walked in with a clipboard in hand and am angry disposition about her.

"Let's see…" she said, reading the list of infractions as she walked around the table they were currently handcuffed to. "Multiple counts of destruction of both private and city property, not to mention, evading arrest." Flipping the clipboard over, she slammed her hand down on it, a deafening thud coming from the table that instantly made Sota sit up straight and Korra to recoil back. "You two are in a whole mess of trouble."

"Can I sell out my sister for a lighter sentence?" Sota asked in mock seriousness, though he did hope that there was actually a chance at a real plea bargain.

"But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper, and I-"

"Can it!" The woman said, picking the clipboard back up and walking around to the other side of the table. "You should have called the police and stayed out of the way."

"But I couldn't just sit by and do nothing; it's my duty to help people. You see…I'm the Avatar," Korra said, hoping that this would give her a bit of leeway.

"Oh, I am well aware of who you are, and your Avatar title, might impress some people, but not me."

"And we're doomed," Sota said, hanging his head as he held back the childish "I told you so" his sister so rightfully deserved.

Korra ignored his comment, and looked the officer straight in the eyes, saying, "Alright, fine. Then I wanna talk to whoever's in charge."

"You're talking to her," she said, pulling her chair out.

"Seriously, Korra, just stop," Sota begged. This was getting worse and worse by the second, and he was really starting to wonder if there was any way for it to get much worse from here. "I'm Chief Beifong."

Ok, maybe it could. _Of course you are,_ he thought bitterly.

"Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? You're Toph's daughter!" Korra said as she put the pieces together.

"What of it?" Lin asked in disinterest.

"Well then why are you treating us like criminals? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends; they saved the world together."

"That's ancient history, and it's got diddly squat to do with the mess you're in right now. You can't just waltz in here and dole out vigilante justice like you own the place!" A side panel opened up to reveal another officer.

"Chief, Councilmen Tenzin is here," he said.

"I retract my earlier statement," Sota said, glaring at his sister. "NOW, we're doomed."

Lin sighed in exasperation; she really didn't have time to deal with all of this. "Let'em in."

Standing up and turning her back to the two children, she watched as the door opened to reveal Tenzin, a very displeased look on his face as he eyeballed them.

"Tenzin," Korra said sadly, pausing as she tried to figure out how she was going to explain all of this. "Sorry, we got a little side tracked on our way to see you."

"Seriously? What part of "stop talking" do you not understand, Korra?" Sota asked, avoiding the scrutinizing gaze of the airbending master.

Taking a deep calming breath, Tenzin looked to Lin, putting a smile on his face. "Lin, you are looking as radiant as usual."

"Cut the garbage, Tenzin," she said. "Why are the Avatar and her brother in Republic City? I thought you were supposed to be moving down to the South Pole to train her."

"My relocation has been delayed," he said, looking at them as he spoke next. "The Avatar, and her brother, on the other hand, will be heading back to the South Pole immediately. Where she will stay put, and he will be grounded and working in the compound animal stables for the next six months as punishment from what I recall his parents saying."

Sota groaned in exasperation as he silently prayed to the spirits above to take him away and never bring him back. He knew that there were going to be consequences, but that just seemed like overkill in his opinion.

"But, Tenzin-" Korra started, but stopped as Sota kicked her and gave her an angry look. He was already in enough trouble because of her mouth; the last thing he needed was her making it worse.

"If you would be so kind as to drop, the charges against them, I will take full responsibility for today's regrettable events, and cover all the damages."

Lin looked over her shoulder at them unhappily as she considered his offer. With a heavy sigh, she waved her hand, releasing the cuffs and saying, "Fine. Get them out of my city."

"Always a pleasure, Lin. Let's go, you too."

The two rubbed their wrist as they followed behind him, looking like the children that had just gotten in trouble that they truly were in that moment. As the passed by her, Lin pointed two of her fingers at her eyes and then at them, signifying that she would be watching them. Korra, being the immature teenager she was, made a nasty face as she mocked Lin and followed after her brother and Tenzin.

* * *

The three stood quietly as they waited for Naga to be released into their custody again. After a few moments, Korra decided to speak once more.

"Tenzin, please, don't send us back home," Korra begged.

"Yeah, I know we kinda made a mess of things here, but please, don't send us back. Especially not to the animal stables," Sota said, cringing as a violent shudder ran through his body at the memory of the last time he had to clean the stables.

"You blatantly disobeyed my wishes, and the orders of the White Lotus," he said before turning to Sota. "And you disappeared without your parents' knowledge. They're absolutely worried sick about you."

"Katara agreed with me that I should come. She said my destiny is in Republic City, and when Sota hopped on the boat with me, he was right that he needed just as much of a chance to find his."

"Don't bring my mother into this!" Tenzin said angrily, the top of his head turning red. In spite of how serious this was supposed to be, Sota had to hold back a laugh at the man to avoid further trouble.

"Look, I can't wait any longer to finish my training. Being cooped up and hidden away from the world isn't helping me become a better Avatar. I saw a lot of the city today, and it's totally out of whack. I understand now why you need to stay; Republic City does need you, but it needs me too, and I need Sota. His destiny is just as intertwined with mine as yours is, and it wouldn't be right to deny him a chance to find himself either. Who knows what this city could hold for him?"

Sota was quiet as he watched Tenzin silently contemplate his choice, stuttering to find a response. Luckily for him, he didn't need to as the animal wrangler returned with Naga who proceeded to lick his head, messing up his hair even more. Sota was grateful that he sister was pleading his case as well as her own, and could only hope that this would get through to Tenzin, though he had a good feeling that it wouldn't.

* * *

Sota and Korra took one last longing look at Republic City as they stood on the dock of on Air Temple Island in front of three White Lotus Sentries. With a sigh, Korra began walking toward the boat. Sota hesitated for a moment before he followed behind her. The sound of moving air caught their attention as they turned around to see Jinora, Ikki and Meelo sweep past before touching down behind them.

"Korra!" The three yelled, running up to her and embracing her in a hug. Jinora pulled away, running up to Sota and pulling him into a hug as well which he gladly accepted, though sadly. Here he had hoped that the next hug he would get from his best friend would be the one where he got to tell her that he was staying in Republic City. Instead, it was almost an exact repeat of the last time they hugged just a few days ago, only this time, he was the one leaving.

"Are you coming to live with us on the island?" Ikki asked. Jinora looked at Sota hopefully, but could tell by the sad look on his face that they weren't.

"No, I'm sorry, Ikki," Korra said sadly as she knelt down to their eye level. "We have to go home now."

Standing back up, she turned and began to walk again with Sota and Naga at her sides.

"Wait," Tenzin said, halting their movements. Surprised, the two southerners turned to face him. "I have done my best to guide Republic City towards the dream my father had for it. But you're right; it has fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy." Placing a hand on her shoulder, he continued. "But you are his legacy. You may stay and train airbending here with me. Republic City needs its Avatar once again."

"Yes! Thank you! You're the best!" Korra said, excitement lighting her features. Spinning around to face her brother, her face instantly fell at the sad look on his face. Sota said nothing as he prepared to turn and head onto the boat that would take him home, only this time, he'd be alone. "Wait," Korra said, moving to place a hand on his shoulder before facing Tenzin again. "If I get to stay, so does Sota. I can't and don't even want to try to do this without him, and he needs to find his way too, Tenzin."

"Please, Dad?" Jinora pleaded, yanking on his robe lightly. Tenzin smiled to them as he stepped forward to put his hand on Sota's head.

"I wouldn't dream of sending you back now," he said. A large smile broke out on Sota and Jinora's faces at his words. "It's like Korra said; your destiny is intertwined with hers, and just like it is her time to find hers, it's you need to find yours."

"Thank you, Daddy!" Jinora said, hugging him before turning back to Sota. "Isn't thins great, Sota!? You get to stay!"

"Tenzin, I….thank you," Sota said, truly at a loss for words. Soon, everyone was scoped into a group hug by Korra, and Sota couldn't be more ready to find out just what his destiny was here in Republic City.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The sun shone high in the sky as Sota stretched his muscles. The small pond in the yard gleamed brightly, almost as if to signify that the new day was upon them and held promises of great things.

Sota reveled in the warmth of the light as a gentle breeze blew past him, the pleasant scent of the foliage wafting along with it. A small leaf drifted down from a tree above him, dancing along with the help of the wind and moving past his face.

Sota smiled as he thought back on the last few days. He had finally arrived in Republic City with Korra, and so far, everything has been going surprisingly well. Her press conference the other day had been the talk of the city for days, and it was finally starting to die which was great because they were all getting a bit tired of reporters coming to Air Temple Island looking for her. Even Sota had to avoid their constant advances for a scoop that they could print up.

As annoying as that was, he still found it to be somewhat exciting. He and Jinora had been talking about it the other night after dinner and she seemed to agree with him that this entire thing was incredible. Jinora had also expressed how excited she was that he and Korra would be staying with them, and Sota couldn't have agreed more. It was a nice feeling to have his friend within such close proximity to him, though he was still bummed that he couldn't spend more time with her.

Apparently, the airbenders had a very strict schedule that Tenzin liked to adhere to, leaving him very little time to actually enjoy her company, though he would take whatever small bit of companionship he could. After all, he was used to being left alone anyway, given that no one in the village associated with him. Jinora felt bad that she couldn't spend more time with him, but both understood the seriousness that was their bending training, which was the same reason that Sota was out here so early in the morning.

Having spent the last few days since his arrival getting settled in, Sota had been ignoring practicing his own bending training, something he knew Jinora's grandmother would not be pleased with, in favor of other activities like fishing, swimming and even watching Jinora herself practice her airbending by moving through some spinning gates she activated with her airbending. Jinora had called him out his lack of training, calling him "lazier then a swamp water" for doing so.

Sota didn't take kindly to her insult, though he of course knew she was right about it. In all honesty, he had hoped to spend a few days exploring the city with everyone and getting more acquainted with the sites of his new home. This, of course, was a short lived dream as Tenzin had forbidden Korra from leaving the island, and by extension, Sota, stating that she was here to learn airbending and that she needed to be focused and away from distractions. Needless to say, they were both less than thrilled about this, but with the White Lotus Sentries all over the island, what were they to do.

With a sigh, Sota readjusted his arm length wrist bands while walking over to his bag that lay under a nearby tree. He dug into it for a moment before picking up a scroll and slowly unraveling it. The scroll had no words on the aged parchment save for the name of the moves described in the pictures, but it was easy enough for him to understand given that he had practiced these moves before.

Placing it down flatly on a nearby rock, Sota looked at the pond before him, eyes focused as he felt his Chi surge in his body. Shifting his stance and taking a deep breath, Sota raised his hands, bringing a small ball of water from the pond easily, separating it from the rest of the clear blue liquid.

For an hour, Sota practiced the movements on the beginners scroll, rolling the water between his hands, creating whips and even freezing it randomly into various shapes. As he carefully maneuvered the water to resemble a miniature lily, a flower native to the island, he could hear the sound of clapping coming from behind him.

"Wow, Sota," Jinora said as she walked up to him. "That's a really pretty flower you made. You've gotten really good at that."

"Thanks, Nora," he said eyeing his work carefully, but grimacing at the shotty workmanship. "But this really isn't all that good. It's just the basic shape of the flower. I haven't even started to get the hang of the finer details. It'll be a long time before I'm anywhere near that good."

"It's JI-nora," she ground out in annoyance before composing herself again. "And I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon if you keep practicing. You'll have plenty of time while you're here in the city."

"Yeah, I suppose. So what's on the agenda for the airbenders today?"

"Korra's gonna be starting her training today. I'm so excited to see what happens!"

"Well, I wouldn't get too excited," Sota said, melting the ice and bending it back into the pond. "Korra's never been able to airbend before."

"Really?" Jinora asked in surprise. "Why's that?"

"Don't know, but I usually like to tell her it's because she's too much of a hot head to do it." The two kids laughed at the joke, Sota shaking his head to himself before continuing. "But now that she's here, I'm sure she'll be able to learn. I mean, who better to teach her then your dad?"

"I agree. Dad's definitely going to be able to help her," Jinora agreed, turning back to their living quarters and beckoning him to follow. "Come on, let's get some breakfast before Meelo and Ikki eat it all."

"Sounds good to me," he replied, trotting after her and into the home.

* * *

"And, in the final round, the Buzzard Wasps won! With a deceive knockout," Korra read excitedly from the paper. Dropping it, she looked to Tenzin who sat across from her. "What do you say we grab everyone and go to the arena tonight? Catch a few probending matches?"

"That…sport," Tenzin said tensely, the idea alone of bothering him "is a mockery of the noble tradition of bending."

"Come on, Tenzin," Korra egged as he took a sip from his tea. "I've dreamed about seeing a probending match since I was a kid, and now I'm just a ferry ride away from the arena. Besides, I think it'd be a good idea for Sota to get out of here once in a while; if we keep him cooped up here all the time, he's gonna start going stir crazy."

"Korra, you're not here to watch that drivel. You're here to finish your Avatar training. And though I do sympathize with Sota's predicament, it can't be helped. So, for the time being, I want you to remain here, on the island."

"Is that why you're keeping the White Lotus Sentries around to watch my every move?" she asked bluntly as she looked around the room to find numerous guards posted around them as well as the other Air Acolytes in the dining room.

"Yes. In order to learn airbending, I believe you require a calm, quiet environment, free from any distractions, which is also why I've asked Sota to not attend your training sessions for the time being."

With a sigh, Korra said, "Alright; you're the master," though she couldn't help throwing a longing glance out the window.

* * *

Sota gave a contented sigh as he finished the last of his breakfast. Even though there was rarely any meat (something that was cooked every so often just for him and Korra), Sota could say without a doubt that Pema was an amazing cook.

Placing his bowl back on the table, Sota watched as Jinora, Ikki and Meelo stood up, the two younger air kids throwing a quick "thank you" to their mother before racing out of the door. Jinora, being better mannered and punctual, gave her mother a proper thank you and bow before turning to leave.

"You gotta go already, huh?" Sota asked, a hint of sadness in his voice, though he doubted anyone would hear it. Or at least he hoped that they wouldn't.

Jinora gave him a nod, saying, "My dad wants us to get to the training gorund a bit early so that we can set it up for Korra." A bit of regret slipped onto her face as she said, "Sorry that you can't come with."

"It's no problem. Give her a good lesson and you can tell me about it later, ok?" he said cheerily. Jinora smiled and nodded to him before exiting. The clinking of porcelain caught Sota's attention as Pema eased herself up and began to clear the table. Standing to his feet, Sota called out to her. "Here, let me do that, Ms. Pema."

"No, no, Sota. Don't give it another thought," she insisted, collecting a few more dishes and heading to the kitchen. "You're our guest."

"It's ok, really," he said, grabbing the rest and making his way behind her into the kitchen. He carefully placed the dishes into the sink before turning the water on to run over them. As the sink filled, he carefully bent water around a few dishes, pulling them out of the sink and allowing them to hover precariously over the rest. His hands continued to move slowly, the water moving around in calm, circular motions as it removed and cleared away the food that remained on them.

Once these dishes were sufficiently cleaned, he lowered them back over the sink, grabbing each on carefully and bending the remaining water off of them before putting each on the rack with the rest and facing her with a smile.

"I do the dishes all the time at home. With my waterbending, it's a lot easier and a lot faster. Besides, I might as well contribute around here. Think of it as my way of saying thank you for letting us stay with you guys. You go ahead and relax."

"Well, that's very sweet of you, Sota, and very appreciated," Pema said, placing a grateful hand on his shoulder before making her way to a chair. "I wish my kids were as considerate as you are."

"It's no problem, really," he said, a small blush of embarrassment on his face at the praise. "It gives me something to do while they're out training."

"I know it must be hard to be cooped up here all the time without the others," she said sympathetically. "But it won't be like this the entire time, I promise. Everyone just needs to get adjusted to all the changes. So, how are you liking the city so far?"

"Well, from what I've seen of it, it's great. It's like a whole new world, completely different from the South Pole," he said with a smile. "It really makes me wonder what the rest of the city is like."

* * *

The rest of the day went by without incident, at least for Sota. After finishing the dishes and making more small talk with Pema, he headed back outside to continue practicing his bending. By the time the late afternoon had come, he had finished and was now aimlessly walking around the island. Naga, having slept through the morning, had joined him on his walk, and though the island was indeed beautiful, it was incredibly boring without anyone to really enjoy it with. Even the sounds of the Flying Lemurs over head could only distract him for so long before he grew tired of it and headed back home.

Dinner was served soon after he returned, and aside from Korra's obvious frustrations, everything seemed to be pretty calm. After Korra had left and headed outside, Sota went about washing their dinner dishes before finding Jinora in her room reading a book.

"So, how'd it go out there?" he asked. Jinora cringed as she recalled the way Korra repeatedly bounced off the gates mercilessly. Sota noticed the look, grimacing as well. "That bad, huh?"

"Let's just say she may be a bit batter and bruised. I've NEVER seen anyone bounce like that before off of something equivalent to a door," Jinora said with a shake of her head.

"I'd better go see how she's doing," he said as he left her room and went in search of his sister. It didn't take him long to find her and Naga outside, Korra throwing her open palms out at a newspaper she hung up in front of her in what he guessed was an attempt to practice her airbending.

"Airbend!" she chanted. The paper remained completely still, frustrating Korra even more. "What is wrong with me!? Airbend!" she repeated, anger growing as it still did not move.

"Well, for starters, you're yelling at a newspaper," Sota said, walking over to Naga and sitting next to her. Korra's eye twitched in irritation before she let out a growl, firebending a ball of fire that quickly incinerated the dangling paper. "Though that temper may be a part of the problem."

"Ha ha, you're so funny," she said sarcastically as she turned to face her brother and pet. "Ugh, maybe I'm just not cut out to be an airbender."

" _Ladies and gentlemen, I'm coming to you live from Republic City's probending arena, where tonight, the best in the world continue their quest for a spot in the upcoming championship tournament."_ The two siblings looked past the pound to see a small housing structure when the static like noise of the radio that reached their ears seemed to be coming from. " _So grab your snacks, and grab your kids, because this next match is gonna be a dozy."_

Looking at each other, their faces instantly lit up, their minds forming a similar idea. The two quietly snuck over to the station where three White Lotus Sentries sat, relaxed as they listened to the radio in front of them. The two siblings quickly and easily scaled the side of the building, situating themselves on the roof as they listened into the announcer's words.

The excitement continued to build for them, adrenaline pumping through their veins as they looked across the bay at the arena, visualizing the match for themselves as if they were there while the announcer gave an energetic play by play.

" _This Mako's got moxy. He advances, fires two quick shots; Yomo is hammered back to Zone 3!"_ he cheered. Sota and Korra wore twin expressions of anxious excitement as they silently cheered for the Fire Ferrets, a rookie team according to the announcer that had been making their way up the latter rather well thus far. The Sentries below them were just as excited, their focus completely taken as they leaned in closer and closer to the radio in anticipation. _"The clock is winding down; Can Yomo hold on? He's teetering on the edge of the ring, now! The Fire Ferrets light up the st-"_

The air instantly became silent as the transmission stopped, shocking everyone into horrified expressions. Korra's entire face began to twitch as Sota leaned forward, barely holding onto the edge of the roof, his body completely stiff and his mouth opened in a silent scream. The three Sentries had similar expression, turning around to check the plug before instantly jumping back as they looked to find Master Tenzin standing behind them, plug in hand and a stern expression on his face.

"Korra, Sota, come down here, please," he called out unhappily as he dropped the plug.

Sota could feel the panic rise in his gut as he looked at Korra who just looked disappointed. Hanging upside down, the two siblings watched the Sentries jump apart in surprise, though their focus was quickly drawn to Tenzin. Korra quickly flipped down and into the post, Sota following behind her at a much slower rate as he righted himself and climbed down.

"You shut it off at the best part!" Korra complained.

"I thought I made myself clear; I don't want you listening to this distracting nonsense."

"Well what about me?" Sota asked. "I mean, I'm not training to be an Avatar, so there shouldn't be any harm in me listening to it, right?"

"You shouldn't be listening to it either. Garbage like that can do nothing but warp a young mind such as yours. Not to mention that if you were to listen to it, it would only distract Korra more with her desire to know what's going on there."

"But it's their radio," Korra stated as she walked up to the older man. "And technically, you said I couldn't watch a match; you didn't say I anything about listening to one."

"You-" Tenzin stuttered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to try and calm himself. "You know what I meant. Anyway shouldn't-shouldn't you be in bed by now?" With a swift pulling of his cloak, Tenzin blew a gust of wind in their faces before sulking away from them.

Korra continued to look on, unamused, while Sota could only sigh.

* * *

The following day preceded much like the previous one with the airbenders training Korra and Sota trying to find ways of preoccupying himself with something.

Ok, so maybe he hadn't expected things to be this boring around here, but that didn't mean that it was any less boring.

Sota still deemed it extremely unfair that he was barred from leaving the island or staying up to date on the Probending Tournament. He wasn't the one training to be an Avatar, so why did he have to suffer along with his sister? He spent his entire day sitting around, bored out of his mind given that he only had so much time to spend with Jinora and the others. Aside from that, and the small bit of the day he used for practicing his own bending, Sota had way too much time on his hands, and little to do in terms of entertainment.

As he lay on the grass near the living quarters, he was surprised to find Korra making her way told it, a bored expression on her face.

"A little early to be done, aren't you?" he asked as he sat up.

"Got thirsty so I decided to get some leachy juice," she said as she stopped to talk to him.

"And Tenzin just let you go? Just like that?"

"Nope. I just got up and walked away. He was going on and on about how Air is the element of freedom, and so when I got tired of listening to him, I got up and walked away. None of this airbending stuff makes sense to me anyway."

"A little ironic, isn't it?" Sota said with a grin.

"Tell me about it. So, listen," Korra said, looking around suspiciously for anyone who may be near and could overhear her. "How do you feel about a little jail break?"

"I think that's a terrible idea," Sota said honestly, though he couldn't help giving the same infectious grin that mirrored his sister's face. "What did you have in mind?"

* * *

The sun had set hours ago, many of the island's inhabitants having turned in for the night save for the Lotus Sentries that were currently on guard duty.

Sota snuck down the hallway quietly, making his way to his sister's room. As he came to the door, he gave a quiet patterned knock, the signal she told him to let her know that it was him. The door cracked open slightly, just enough for Sota to slip inside noiselessly before being pushed closed with a soft click.

Korra gave him a silent wave toward her window as she crossed the room. Sota followed behind her wordlessly, watching as she stood at the jarred window, watching the guards. Creeping up next to her, Sota ducked down as he looked under her arm that held the window open, watching the guard at the front as well. The two waited patiently for him to make his rounds and to secure the perimeter before making any more moves.

After a few minutes, the guard, satisfied that everything was all clear, began to walk away, continuing his sweep of the grounds. Korra turned to her brother, giving him a silent nod which he returned before following her out the window and onto the roof. Korra swiftly jumped down, landing quietly on her feet. Sota followed suit, landing next to her.

Once they were sure that the coast was clear, the two took off, heading straight for the cliff that lead to the bay. Without even bothering to stop, they jumped off, sailing over the beach and heading straight for the water. The two siblings quickly bent water upward toward their bodies as they came closer and closer to the surface, allowing it to engulf them and soften the impact to the point of it being nothing.

The water was cold and dark in the night, but this did nothing to hinder the two southerners who were use to much colder weather. Korra swiftly began to swim, holding her breath as she moved swiftly through the water. Sota followed behind her, using his waterbending to give himself an extra boost to keep up with her. The darkness made it harder for him to see her, but he kept up as best he could, swimming in the direction of the arena which was brightly lit for all to see.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

After a few minutes, Sota was forced to break the surface, gasping for air that his lungs needed. His head whipped around, finding that Korra was still underwater and probably still making her way toward the stadium, which didn't surprise him, given that she could hold her breath for much longer then he could.

Looking around once more to be sure the coast was clear, Sota took another deep breath, filling his lungs with the sweet oxygen before diving back under the shadowed liquid and continuing forward.

Korra finally broke the surface as she came upon the large stadium that was clearly packed as she could hear the crowds cheering from even down in the water. A smile came to her face before she realized that Sota had yet to break the surface.

"Sota? Sota!?" She called quietly, though there was an edge of franticness in her voice as she looked around. Seconds later, Sota broke the surface, taking in air and thankful that they had finally made it. Korra sighed in relief before grabbing him around the waist and giving her body a spin, bending a spiral of water under them and propelling them into an open window.

The two skidded to a halt in the empty hallway before bending the remaining water off of their bodies. Excitement colored Korra's features as looked around in wonder, though she quickly noticed that Sota was walking rather slowly. Turning to him, she could see him holding his hands between his legs, shaking a bit.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just really gotta go to the bathroom," he said, looking around for one.

"I told you not to drink so much during dinner," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Why didn't you just go to out in the bay?"

"Because I'm too old to be peeing in my pants, that's why," he said with a glare.

"Ugh, fine, just hurry up, ok?" She said, receiving a nod as he took off the opposite direction. Shaking her head, Korra walked a little further, looking around to see if she could find out where they were and if they could find somewhere to watch the match from.

Rounding a corner, Korra paused, standing in the threshold of a room with lots of gym equipment. A smile came onto her face as she walked up, looking around in fascination before coming to a stop in the middle of the room, never noticing the elderly man who was also there.

"Hey!" he called out, grabbing her attention. The man was definitely older, but seemed to be in good physical shape even though he was hunched over. His hair was a grayish white, and his arms were wrapped in bandages. Walking toward her, he asked, "What are you doing in my gym?"

Oh, uh," Korra said, plastering a nervous smile on her face. "My little brother was looking for a bathroom and we got lost, so-"

"Oh, the old, "I gotta pee" excuse," he mocked her disbelievingly, the smile falling from her face. "And where is this so called little brother of yours, huh? You know, I'm sick and tired of you kids sneakin in without payin, and I'm taking you to security!"

Korra panicked as she tried to think of a way to defuse the situation. "No wait-"

"There you are."

Korra turned to the young man walking in, helmet in hand and a smile on her face. He was clearly a probender as he was dressed in a red and white padded uniform, a green sash around his waist and a matching stripe on the top of his helmet. His skin was pale, making the shining green of his eyes seem brighter, even in the dim light of the gym. "I've been looking everywhere for you. I found your brother and he's waiting for you by your seats."

Korra looked at him in confusion for a moment, though it quickly faded as a smile came to her face. She didn't know who this guy was but she could clearly tell that he was trying to help her, and she definitely appreciated that. The last thing she needed was to get kicked out and have security called on her because that would mean that Tenzin would find out she was there and he'd skin her alive if he caught her.

Turning to the older man with a look that tried to emphasize how smooth he thought he was, he said, "It's alright, Toza; she with me."

"Yeah, I'm with him," she readily agreed.

"So, you see, we're together."

Korra's smile faltered as she looked at him sideways and said, "Well not, together-together. More like friends."

"Right friends, no, no, I didn't mean to imply," he apologized nervously, coughing into his hand as she accused, "Oh you implied it."

"Ah, I don't care what you are; I got work to do," he dismissed with a wave of his hands before turning around and walking back over to some equipment which he began to earthbend and move.

"Right this way, Miss," the green eyes young man said, leading her out the door.

"And thank you, sir," she spoke loudly before whispering, "seriously, thanks," behind her hand. With twin grins in place, the two took off, jogging down the hall. Once they were far enough away, they slowed down to a walk.

"So, do you actually have a little brother, or was that just something you came with on the spot?"

Korra chuckled before saying, "No, I really do have a little brother. He ran off to the bathroom as soon as we got here. I really should go look for him."

"There's a bathroom here by the locker room. I bet that's where he went," he said, leading her down the hall. "By the way, I'm Bolin."

"Korra; nice to meet you. So, what's it like being a probending player?"

"It's amazing! You wouldn't believe how much it is."

"I bet," she said honestly. "This'll be the first match I ever get to see in person."

"Well then I got a surprise for you," he said as they came to a door. Twisting the knob, Bolin pushed the door open, giving Korra a minute to take in the sight before speaking again. "What do you think? Best seats in the house, huh?"

"Whoa…" she gapped. "Unbelievable. This place is even more amazing then I imagined."

Korra took no notice as two other guys walked in, one of them whispering out to Bolin. Looking back, Bolin realized it was his brother and quickly jogged up to him.

"I told you, you have to stop bringing your crazy fan girls in here before the matches. Get her out of here," said in annoyance as he adjusted his pads.

"Ah, come on, Mako," he said, a bored expression on his face. "Alright, look, I kinda promised her she could stay and wait for her little brother here, but, man, I got a good feeling; there's something special about her. I know it." Turning back to her, Bolin tapped her on the shoulder and pulled her over toward the lockers. "Come here, I want you to meet my brother, Mako."

"Mako? Wow, I heard you play on the radio!" she said excitedly as she held her hand out. Mako completely ignored her as he walked past her, not even acknowledging her.

"Come on, Bolin, we're up," Mako said.

The smile instantly fell from Korra's face as she looked at her rejected hand. "Or, I could met him later…"

"Yeah, sorry about that. My brother just gets real focused before a match," Bolin apologized as he placed his helmet on his head. "Ok, I gotta go. Wish me luck. Not that I'll need it."

Korra smiled again as she watched him jog over to his teammates who were waiting for their platform, tossing them a good luck as she settled in to watch the match. Her mind quickly went back to Sota, wondering if she should go looking for him, but she figured he couldn't get far and would pass by the locker room at some point. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

Sota paced around the stadium, annoyance clear on his face. After spending nearly five minutes searching, the most painfully long five minutes in his life, he had finally found a bathroom. Thankfully, it wasn't crowded so it didn't take him long to go and head back to where he and Korra had came through the open window-

Only to find that she wasn't there anymore.

Looking around, Sota hadn't found a single trace of his sister, wondering just where she could be. That is, until some old guy say him and started yelling at him about having a ticket and not being allowed in there. Sota could feel the nervousness creeping into his stomach, and before the guy could get any closer, he turned and ran. The old guy cried out in protest, yelling something about calling security which only made Sota run faster as he turned random corners, went up and down random flights of stairs before finally coming to a stop.

As he turned around, checking to see if the cost was indeed clear, Sota realized that he had no idea where he was.

"Ah crap," he muttered before he started walking back the way he came in hopes of retracing his steps. Unfortunately, that only led to him getting even more lost. After nearly ten minutes, Sota had reached the peak of his frustration, silently cursing his sister to the deepest depths of the Spirit World for ditching him.

"I swear to the spirits, when I find Korra, I'm gonna drown her in a toilet," he said declared, turning a corner, only to pause in fright as he saw a security guard talking to the old man who had been chasing after him.

"Find that kid, now," he said grumpily. The guard nodded, pulling out a walkie-talkie and notifying the other guards to look for him.

Sota gulped, backing up and away from the corner, never noticing the sound of metal scraping. Behind him, a small grate that covered the vent that was built into the wall. Opening up, the grate swung on its hinges, clattering to the floor with a loud bang, startling Sota who whipped around to see what the noise was. Kneeling down, he peered into the vent, not really sure what he was looking for or what he was expecting.

The inside was dark, hiding whatever had made the noise from his site. Peering closer, Sota squinted as he tried to see what was inside. He wasn't prepared, however, for a pair of hands to shoot out, grab him and drag him into the vent. The grate closed up behind him, making a small sound as he looked at the person who pulled him in, their back turned. As they turned to face him, Sota gasped as his bright ice blue eyes met shimmering yellow eyes the color of liquid gold.

The person was a girl, one who had to be the same age as him. Her skin was pale, making it easy for him to see her even in the dim light provided in the vent. Her hair was a deep brown color, reminding him of a healthy full grown tree. At the back of her head was a golden band that pulled her hair back, leading into a tight braid that reached the middle of her back, the rest falling into her face as it was too short to be pulled back, instead framing her face, accentuating the roundness of it.

His eyes briefly glanced over her clothes; her legs were covered in black skin tight pants that matched her flat shoes as well as cut off at her ankles, but were covered in burgundy skirt. The stomach was exposed as she shirt cut off, though it wasn't just at the midriff; the arms of the shirt were sleeveless while the neckline travelled up to her throat. The skirt matched the shirt, her noticed off handedly, his eyes dancing over the black vest she was wearing and over the golden wristbands she wore that matched her hoop earrings as well as her eyes.

Sota blinked a few times, face turning slightly red; he had never met a girl as pretty as her before, and was embarrassed at having been staring at her. Shaking off his stunned stupor, her finally found his voice again.

"Who are you? And why-"

"Shhh…" she whisper quietly as she placed a finger to her mouth and held up a hand. Seconds later, the sound of feet pounding against the ground could be heard as multiple guards ran by the vent. As they got further and further away, the girl crawled past Sota, before gesturing him to follow her, a bright smile on her face. "Follow me."

Though her voice was quiet, Sota heard her perfectly clear, and began to crawl after her. Sota didn't know where they were going, but considering that she had just saved him from the guards, he figured she was trustworthy enough and he'd be safe to go with her.

"So…what exactly were you doing in the vent?" he said quietly as he tried to think up something to say, though for whatever reason, everything just sounded really bad to him, and he was beginning to feel a bit awkward.

A cheeky smile came to her face as she continued on. "Exploring, of course."

Sota smiled; her voice sounded so…light and gentle. He liked it. It reminded him of the calming effect that water had on him when he would just sit and watch it at rest, when it wasn't moving.

"Do you do that often?"

"All the time," she said with a small laugh. "I've explored this whole area dozens of times. I know my way around here like the back of my hand."

"Wow, that's, uh, really cool," he said, not sure how to say it. "So you're a big probending fan then?"

"Uh huh," she said with a nod before pausing by another grate. Pushing it open, she pointed to the opening. "Through here. Just be careful when you land."

"Um…okay," he said, looking at her in uncertainty. He hesitated for a moment before jumping down, landing, ungracefully on the floor of the locker room. Sota groaned as he pushed himself up, and he could have sworn her faintly heard a laugh coming from above him. Standing up to his full height, he began to dust himself off.

"Sota, there you are," Korra said happily as she walked over to him. "Where've you been? You've missed half the match."

"I got lost since you decided to ditch me," he said in annoyance as he looked at the sheepish look on his sister's face.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I kinda got sidetracked when this old guy, Toza, started freaking out and threatening to call the guards."

"Trust me, I know. He and I are well acquainted," Sota said with a roll of his eyes. "I'd have been dead if it wasn't for her-" he paused to look around for the girl, whose name, he realized, he didn't even know, only to find her not there. Looking back up to the vent, he found that the grate was back in place as if it had never moved.

"What girl?" Korra asked, looking around to find no one else in there but them.

"Um…nevermind…" he muttered, a bit sad that she was gone. Turning back to his sister, he asked, "What are you doing in the locker room anyway?"

"You'll never guess who I got to meet," she said, her excitement coming back. "Bolin of the Fire Ferrets!"

"What!? No way!"

"He's the one who brought me back here to watch the match. Here, come check out the view!" She said, dragging him over to the edge of the ring. Sota gasped before a smile plastered itself on his face as the second half of the match began.

The bell rang, springing the players into life once more. The Golden Temple Tigerdilos were the first to react, launching all three fierce bending attacks at the Ferrets, pushing them back into Zone Two.

"The Fire Ferrets are knocked into Zone Two, and the Tigerdilos advance!" The announcer cried out into the mic. Sota watched in awe at the way the game was played, never having seen it before. It was way different then he had ever imagined it to be, much better than he ever expected. He could practically feel the energy from the players all the way back in his where he was.

The bell rang out again, as the crowd cheered, the Fire Ferrets dancing in victory. Well, two of them anyway. The firebender, Mako, looked focused as he watched his opponents get back up and prepare for the next round.

"The Fire Ferrets synch the round in the closing seconds! It's one a piece, still anyone's match as we go into the third and final round!" The announce commentated, the bell ringing just as he finished. The match was well under way, though it looked as if thing were starting to take a turn for the worst. "Hasook stumbles…And now he tumbles, right into his teammate!"

Korra and Sota gasped in horror as they watched he and Bolin on the ground of the ring, praying that they could still pull it off.

"He and Bolin better untangle quick if they don't want to-" but the announcer never finished his thought as a disk flew right into the two downed players, launching them over the edge of the ring and straight into the water. "Oh! Too late!"

"Oh no!" Korra groaned, her hands sliding over her face.

"Well, looks like they're as good as done," Sota said in disappointment.

"It's all up to Mako now," the announcer said as Mkao began dodging the various attacks thrown at him. "He's bobbing and weaving, weaving and bobbing! But he's not hitting back! If Mako's knocked out, the Ferrets fabulous season is over!"

Korra groaned again, as she began pulling at her ponytails, and though Sota found this ridiculous, her couldn't help the fact that half his body was literally leaning half way over the railing.

"He's dancing on the edge of the ring…surviving the three on one barrage! It seems his plan is to let the Tigerdilos punch themselves out!" Mako threw a quick punch, fire shooting from his fist and colliding with the waterbender on the opposing team, knocking him back. "And his plan is working! He's in the pool! They're got nothing in the tank, and Mako is on the offensive!"

Sota and Korra cheered as Mako fought back, hope coming back to them that the team could actually still win.

"It's two on one!" The announcer yelled briefly before the opposing firebender was sent flying back into a pole and over the edge. "Scratch that; it's one on one, and it's an earth and fire slugfest!" The two elements collided, making it near impossible for anyone to see exactly what was going on. "There's so much smoke and dust from the fire fight, I can't even see where the Fire Ferret is!"

Sota watched, laughing a bit, as Mako jumped into the smoke, fist flaming, before coming out on the other side and launching a fiery blast into the Tigerdilo. That move instantly made him think of Korra during her fire test, and he distinctly wondered if that was just a trait for firebenders.

"It's a knockout! What a wingdinger of a hat trick, folks!" The announcer yelled, the crowd cheering. Sota and Korra soon started cheering as well, the excitement almost tangible in the air. "Mako pulls out the upset of the season, winning the match for the Fire Ferrets!"

"That was so awesome!" Sota said, Korra nodding her head as Bolin jumped off the elevator from the water in front of them.

"Whoo hoo! Yes!" he cheered. "One more win, and we're in the championship tournament!" Taking his helmet off, Bolin asked, "So, what'd you think, Korra? Bolin's got some moves, huh?"

"What did I think? What did I think?" Korra asked in excitement as she grabbed him by his uniform. "That was amazing!" Korra shoved him playfully, making Sota roll his eyes, though he couldn't help smiling at his sister. Turning back to her brother, she said, "Bolin, I'd like you to meet _my_ brother. Sota, this is Bolin."

"Nice to meet you, SOta," Bolin said with smile as he shook hands with the younger boy.

"Nice to meet you too. You were doing great out there til you got knocked down," he said. Apparently, Sota wasn't the only one who thought so as the three watched Mako chew Hasook out as they walked back into the locker room.

"You did way more harm than good out there," Mako shouted. "You almost cost us the match."

"We won, didn't we?" Hasook ground out in his gruff voice.

"Barely."

"Get off my case pal," he shouted back as he walked past everyone, ignoring the pair of siblings, tossing his helmet to the ground. Sota's eyes grew wide as she looked at Mako, who muttered something about Hasook being useless under his breath.

"Whoa, it's Mako," he gushed, moving forward to shake his hand while Korra congratulated them. Mako simply walked past them, his annoyance at the entire match still bugging him. Sota's face fell, the dejection clear on his face as Mako made his way to his locker. Korra, narrowed her eyes at him; this guy was seriously that rude that he would ignore a kid, a fan of his at that? What kind of arrogant jerk did he think he was?

"Hey, how's about you at least acknowledge my brother instead of being such a jerk about it?" Korra said heatedly.

"Oh, you're still here?" he stated, not even bothering to look at them.

"Why you no good-"

It's ok, Korra," Sota said, shaking his head. Though it did hurt that Mako would just ignore him like that, it wasn't work her getting worker up for.

"Fine," she grumbled, turning back to Bolin, her mood changing a bit. "Anyway, I've been immersed in bending my entire life, but I never learned how to move like that. It's like there's a whole new style here! Think you could show me a few tricks?"

"Absolutely!" Bolin cheered.

"Right now? Come on, Bolin," Mako said with a sigh.

 _Jeez, this guy's seriously a jerk,_ Sota thought with a frown and an annoyed stare at the firebender's back.

"Just ignore him," Bolin said, his good mood not dampening in the slightest. "Yeah, I can show you the basics. I'm just not sure how my earthbending would translate to your waterbending. But we'll figure it out."

"Trust me, it won't be hard for her," Sota said with a roll of his eyes as he knew where this was going.

"He's right. I'm actually an earthbend," Korra said smugly.

Bolin paused, blinking at her in confusion for a moment before speaking. "I'm sorry! No, no, didn't mean to assume. Because, you know, I was just figuring, with your Water Tribe get up, that you are Water Tribe…gal."

"No, you're right; I'm a waterbender."

"Smug alert," Sota whispered, receiving a smack to the back of the head from his sister though the grin never left his face.

"And a firebender," she continued, giving him a pointed look.

"If your ego gets any bigger-"

"Sota!" She said in annoyance. "Keep talking, and I'll kick your butt so hard, even Katara won't be able to heal you."

"Oh, I'm so scared," he said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

Bolin thought out everything they said for a moment, trying to piece it all together, but he still wasn't getting it.

"I'm very confused right now," he admitted.

"You're the Avatar, and I'm an idiot," Mako said with a sigh as he hung his head. Of all the times he decided to be a jerk, it had to be the Avatar that his brother met.

"And a jerk," Sota added, Korra nodding her head.

"All of those are true," she confirmed happily as Bolin's jaw practically hit the floor.

"No. Way…" he said quietly, turning to his brother. Pointing to Korra behind his hand, he stated, " _THE_ Avatar!"

"Yeah, she gets that a lot," Sota said with a smirk, though, it faltered a bit as his mind went back to the girl in the vents. He began to wonder if she was nearby, maybe even listening to them now, though he doubted it. If he overheard someone stating they were the Avatar, he'd have jumped out of the vent and exposed himself.

Looking back out into the arena, he saw people beginning to leave and head home, and wondered if she was even still here or if she had left already as well.

 _I wonder if I'll ever see her again…_ He thought for a moment, before shaking his head. Why did he even care? He didn't actually know her. She didn't even tell him her name. She was just some random crazy girl who liked crawling in vents. Who does that, anyway?

With a snort, he turned back to his sister and the Ferret brothers as Bolin began to ask her questions, not even realizing that form across the area, a pair of golden eyes were watching him, a small smile on her face.

"So what did you think?" she asked as another girl sat next to her, her green eyes bored.

"You know you don't actually want to know what I think. It's your opinion that matters, so I think the better question is, what do _you_ think?" she asked.

"I think he's perfect," she said, smile still on her face.

"You don't even know him, Mai-Ling" she said, rolling her eyes.

"I know, but I've got a good feeling about him, ok, Jun?" she stated stubbornly.

"Why? Because he's a waterbender? Or…" Jun said, a cheeky smile coming to her face. "Is it because you like him?"

Mai-Ling rolled her eyes, but didn't answer, simply stating, "He's exactly what we need. We just have to get him to join us."

Jun hummed to herself before standing to her feet and turning to leave, Mai-Ling right beside her. "Well, we'll have to see about that. Since you're so sure about this guy, then I think it's only fair if I get to check him out for myself."

Mai-Ling sighed, brushing a few strands of hair behind her ear. "If you must. Just try not to hurt him, okay?"

"Now you know I can't promise that," she replied, a small grin on her face. "Beside; a little pain builds character you know."

Mai-ling could only shake her head as the two blended into the crowd, making their way toward the exit and out of sight.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Ok, so I know this isn't the end of the episode, but I felt this was a good stopping point for a few reasons. The first being that I have more planned for this part that involves the Pro-bending stuff and when Korra becomes and athlete. Yes, she will still be playing for the Fire Ferrets, however, Sota will have a hand in this as well. I won't say why.**

 **The second is that this chapter was getting long. I had planned to fit this as well as the next part into one, but I felt if I did it now that it would be rushing it and I don't want to rush this because it's very important to the story telling as well as to the introduction of new characters.**

 **Which is where my third point comes in. I've been so excited and have been waiting to bring Mai-Ling and Jun into the story since I first came up with the idea and planned everything out for the series. They are going to be very important, but I won't tell you how. I'd like to see what you all think of both of them as well as what you think they're up to.**

 **I will describe what Jun looks like in the next chapter, but didn't want to this chapter as it would ruin the mystery. Also, fun act, when I originally came up with the design for Mai-Ling, I hated it every time because everything made her look like a younger version of Tai-Lee from the original series. I was very happy when I started typing this chapter and was able to design her much differently and better in my opinion. Let me know what you guys think.**

 **Later,**

 **Blak-Ice**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After the match, Korra and Sota followed Bolin to the gym so that Korra could learn the more athletic style of bending. Sota wasn't as interested, given that he was a waterbender and the earthbending style wouldn't help his waterbending much.

At least, that was what he told himself. But deep down, he knew that it was because of that girl he had met earlier. For reasons beyond him, Sota couldn't get her off his mind, which he found to be weird as he had only spent a few minutes with her. In a small vent…in close proximity…close enough that he could smell the scent of Jasmine coming off of her-

"Sota?" Korra called, bringing him out of his thoughts. Sota yelped, startled by this, his face heating up a bright red color that Korra instantly noticed. "Are you ok? You haven't said a word since we left the locker room, and your face is all red."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine!" he spouted off quickly, making Korra suspicious. "Yep, totally, definitely, without a doubt, fine."

An evil smile broke out across her face, instantly worrying Sota. "Oh, I get it; you were thinking about your imaginary little girlfriend, weren't you?" she teased.

"No! And she's not imaginary!" Sota protested in his natural defense mechanism against his sister, his mind slowly processing what she said. Realization seemed to strike him a moment later as he added, "And she's not my girlfriend!"

"Ahh, that's so cute," Korra taunted, pinching his cheek. Sota smacked her hand away in anger as she said, "Wittle Sota's got a giwlfwiend."

Before Sota could protest, or in this case, waterbend his sister out of a window, Bolin walked back in, his uniform put away, now back in a sleeveless shirt and dark green pants. Mako walked in a few paces behind him, walking past the squabbling siblings to lean against the stair railing behind them with his arms crossed.

"Alright, let's see what you got," Bolin said enthusiastically. Sota was grateful to have his sister's attention off of him as she walked over to where a few stacks of earth disc had been set up.

Korra shifted into her stance, planting her feet and launching two of the disc into the waiting net across from them.

"That was great," Bolin complimented as he turned back to her. "Good power. But, in a real match, you'd be a sitting turtle duck." Korr looked at him, confused. Wasn't this how normal bending was done? "Not so upright and flat footed."

Korra dropped her stance as Bolin shifted into one himself. Sota instantly noticed that it was indeed quite different from what Korra had done. Bolin was dancing on his feet and had his hands up to guard his face, moving around lightly as if he were more of a boxer then a bender. Korra took notice of the stance, intrigued by the difference between what she had been taught.

"See? Light on your toes, right up until the moment you need to dig in, and strike, then-" Bolin threw two quick jabs as he feet dug into the ground and stayed planted. Two more discs flew across the room, swinging wide before moving back toward the center and into the net.

Korra was wide eyed, definitely impressed by the display, as was Sota. Neither of them had ever seen bending done like that before, and just from this small demonstration, it was clear that Bolin was very good at it. Confidence was practically radiating off the earthbender at their amazement.

"Ok, let me try it again," Korra said, determined to get this down. Copying Bolin's stance, she danced around awkward for a few seconds before planting her feet and firing off two quick jabs. The discs flew into the net precisely, and Korra smirked in satisfaction.

"Wow!" Bolin cheered. "Nice adjustment. You're a natural at this."

"Nice one, Korra," Sota said in agreement.

"Not bad," Mako commented nonchalantly with a shoulder shrug.

"What's it take to impress this guy?" Korra asked Bolin. Sota was more surprised that he had commented at all, and didn't think what Mako said was so bad.

"What? I said no bad," Mako replied, annoyed by her question. Korra gave him an unimpressed look, making Mako shake his head. "You know what? It's getting late. I think I'm gonna turn in. You kids have fun." Pausing, he looked over his shoulder and said, "Nice to me you; _Avatar_ Korra."

Sota could hear the inflection in the older boys voice, but ignore it to say, "What about me? I'm here too, you know."

"And your little brother," he added sarcastically, adding to the reasons that Sota really didn't like him.

"Yeah, been a real pleasure," she replied just as sarcastically.

"Ass," Sota mumbled under his breath.

"See ya upstairs, bro," Mako said as he made his way out of the gym.

"Upstairs? You guys live here?" Korra asked the earthbender.

"Yep, in the attic," he said. "It's nothing fancy, but we've got some great views."

"I can imagine. I bet you could see the whole city from up there," said, secretly wanting to check it out for himself. _I wonder if that girl has seen the view from up there? I bet she has hundreds of times._

"You bet. So, back to bending," Bolin said, focusing back on Korra. The Avatar nodded, shifting back into the stance from before. "Why don't you throw that combo one more time."

Korra did so with zero hesitation and a smile on her face while Sota watched, not the least bit surprised that his sister was picking it up so quickly. This went on for another hour as Bolin instructed her in the art of probending earth disc, but soon, the two siblings had to go, knowing full and well that if they didn't get back soon, they would most likely get caught, not to mention that Korra had to get up early to practice her airbending training with Tenzin.

"Hey, it's cool," Bolin said, noticing the bummed look on Korra's face as well as the exhausted one on Sota's. "You guys are coming to the match tomorrow, right? It's the last one before the championships."

"We'll definitely be here. There's no way we're miss it," Koraa promised. Sota nodded his head, though his thoughts had once again moved back to that girl, silently wondering if she would be here and watching as well.

* * *

The next morning had been horrible for the two siblings. After successfully sneaking back in, neither of them got very much sleep, which left both pretty irritable. When questioned about their exhaustion, Korra would often give the person an annoyed look, but would say nothing, while Sota would stare at them for a few moments before asking them what they said again. It took a while for the two to fully wake up, Sota especially who had fallen face first into his breakfast, but eventually the two were awake enough to get on with their day.

Sota quickly practiced his waterbending, which was difficult with his mind trying to process at the tired pace it was, as well as his constant distraction of his mind drifting back to that girl. With an annoyed growl, Sota dropped the water back into the pond with a loud splash, and stomped off away from it.

What was the point in trying to practice bending when all it was going to do was make him think of the arena and that girl? And why was he even thinking about her? It was just some random girl. He had met plenty of people since he had moved to the city, none of which had stuck in his mind like her. So why did she? What was so different about her?

A loud explosion drew him from his thoughts as he looked up to the top of the hill where a large ball of fire shot off into every direction. His eyes grew wide as he ran up the steps to the training ground, stopping next to Jinora. Korra stood in the middle of what he guessed was the central point of the explosion, her breath ragged as she looked around at the destruction she had caused to the spinning doors.

Sota was just as speechless as the airbenders, not really sure what to say, or if he should say anything at all.

"That was a two thousand year old, historical treasure…"Tenzin said slowly as he came out of his stupor. "What-WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

"Good luck figuring that out," he said under his breath. Jinora elbowed him, giving him a look displeased look at his joke though it didn't seem that Tenzin heard him or took notice of his presence.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Korra protested.

"You want another opinion on that?" Sota said, earning a glare from both his sister and his best friend.

"I've been practicing just like you taught me, but it just isn't sinking in, ok?" she continued as she turned back to Tenzin. "It doesn't click like you said it would!"

Sota opened his mouth to make another comment, but was stopped at Jinora slapped her hand over his mouth. Glaring at her, Sota proceeded to lick her palm, causing her to draw back and suppress a shriek of disgust as she wiped her hand on his shirt.

"Korra, this isn't something you can force," Tenzin said, trying to reign in his patience. "If you had only listened to me-"

"I have been!" Korra shouted back, cutting him off. "But you know what I think? Maybe the problem isn't me. Maybe the reason I haven't learned airbending yet is because _you're_ a terrible teacher!"

Sota was stunned as he watched his sister march off without another word. The kids looked up to Tenzin as he growled in frustration.

"Yeah, you're a bad teacher, Daddy!" Meelo cheered, clearly not understanding the implications of the situation, before kicking at the debris happily. Sota wanted to facepalm himself for the younger boys comment, but restrained himself as the two girls hugged their father in an effort to comfort him. Holding his head down, Sota turned and climbed down the stairs after his sister. Once they were a good ways away from the others, Sota looked at his sister from behind and spoke.

"Korra-"

"I don't wanna hear it," she said, not in the mood for his jokes or his commentary on what just happened. "Just be ready to leave for the arena before dinner. We have to get their early to watch the Fire Ferrets match."

Sota said nothing else, knowing it would do no good, especially when she was this angry. He just hoped that Korra knew what she was doing.

* * *

By the time they made it to the arena, Korra was in a much better mood, though she still refused to talk to Tenzin or to even talk about what had happened. Sota didn't push it, instead focusing on holding in the excitement he felt to see the match that was coming up, as well as hoping that he would run into that girl again.

"Hey, Korra," he called, grabbing her attention. "I'm gonna go see if I can find a snack. I'm starved."

"Fine, but don't take too long. You don't wanna miss the match. Just meet me in the locker room," she said as she kept walking.

Sota nodded, watching her turn a corner before turning around and running down the hall. He had no idea where he was going or even where to start looking for her, but for whaever reason, he couldn't stop thinking about her, and he was determined to find her and talk to her again.

Sota spent the better part of fifteen minutes looking all around, but found no sign of her amongst the crowd or the more restricted areas, which he was surprised that he was able to get into without any trouble. Of course, he wasn't going to question it. He could hear the sounds of the crowd cheering as the match that was just going ended, giving them a quick intermission to clean the ring before the next match, which he knew was the Fire Ferrets.

With a defeated, disappointed sigh, Sota turned to head back toward the locker, only to feel himself being yanked back once again. As he was dragged into the small corridor, Sota felt him excitement flare back up as he turned to see a girl.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the girl he had been hoping to find.

This girl was clearly a citizen of Earth Kingdom decent. Her skin was a light cream color while her hair, which was held in two thin ponytails in the back which were then tied together to make one long one that stopped just short of her shoulders, was jet black. Her tunic, which was a dark green, went from her neck, all the way down to her feet. Under it, she wore matching green pants over her black shoes while a silver belt that was no doubt made of metal was wrapped around her slim waist. The sleeves of the shirt she had under her tunic were light green, the same light green as her bored, unimpressed eyes, and covered her arms, stopping at the metal wristbands she wore.

Sota gave a disappointed sigh, causing the girl to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Nice to meet you too," she said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. Sota suddenly felt embarrassed by his rude behavior.

"Sorry, I just thought you were someone else," he apologized.

"Let me guess; pretty girl, Fire Nation, gold eyes, crawls around in vents like a weirdo?"

"You know her!?" He questioned, grabbed her by the shoulders. The girl raised her eyebrow again before gripping both his hands, and pulling them off of her and shoving him back. Sota blinked, embarrassed at his overreaction.

"Yes, I know her," she said, dusting her shoulders of imaginary dust. "But why should I tell you anything about her?"

"I need to talk to her," Sota said desperately. "Or at least know her name."

"She didn't even tell you her name?" she asked in exasperation, shaking her head and mumbling, "I can't believe how dumb she is…"

"Please, uh…" Sota paused as he realized, he hadn't learned her name either; he really needed to work on that, especially when it came to girls.

"The name's Jun," she said, dismissively before pushing past him without another word. Sota looked at her, confused, but followed behind her down the hall. "The girl you're looking for is named Mai-Ling, and I can tell you, she's not here."

"Oh…that's a shame," he said, a bit sad that she wasn't at the arena. "Well, since you know her, maybe you can tell her I was looking for her? My name's Sota by the way." Jun said nothing as she continued to walk down the hall, ignoring him completely. Sota rolled his eyes; seems that there were a lot of rude people here in the city. As he brought his eyes back to her, he noticed that there was a small metal spool attached to the back of her belt that reminded him of the ones the metalbending police wore, but he quickly dismissed it. There was no way a girl who was the same age as him could have gotten a hold of one.

"So, I'm guessing you're a fan of probending too?" he asked, trying to strike up conversation, but once again only received silence. "Not much of a talker, I see."

"No, I'm not," she replied. "And obviously I like probending, or else I wouldn't be here to watch the match."

The two preteens stopped in front of a fancy door, making Sota a bit nervous as to what could be on the other side. Jun ignored him, pushing it open to reveal a private booth with an amazing view of the ring. Sota stared, wide eyed as they walked in, never noticing Jun closing in behind him until she shoved him toward one of the seats. Sota gave her an annoyed look, but took his seat anyway while Jun took one next to him, reclining in the soft material of her seat. Sota prepared to do the same, until something in the ring caught his eye.

" _The Platypus Bears know a green player when they see one, and they are focusing the brunt of their bending on this poor girl,"_ The announcer said as the waterbender on the Ferret's side was relentlessly pummeled by the enemy team. Just as they shot a dual attack of fire and water at her, two earth discs came up to protect her.

Sota could only smack his forehead in exasperation while Jun leaned forward in her seat, eyes wide in shock, much like the rest of the crowd.

" _Wait a minute-did that waterbender just_ earth _bend!?"_

The referee blew the whistle before crying out, "Foul; I…think…"

Korra looked around confused before putting on a cheeky, nervous smile and shrugging her shoulders. Sota once again facepalmed, begging the spirits above to strike him down now and end the embarrassment and misery he felt.

" _Did I see that right?...Hold on folks, we're just waiting for the referees official call, but, I think…this replacement player could be…there's no way…you've got to be kidding me! She's the Avatar, folks! Playing in a probending match! Can you believe that!"_

"I can, and I really wish I didn't," Sota said, shaking his head as he watched his sister regroup with the other Ferret players. "Korra, what were you thinking? Tenzin's gonna destroy us when he finds out about this."

"Wait, you know the Avatar?" Jun asked in surprise.

"Unfortunately, yes. She's my older sister."

"Wait-what!? You're the Avatar's brother!?"

"Yeah. And trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be," he replied, gaze still focused on his sister. "I just hope she hasn't screwed Mako and Bolin over with this stupid stunt."

"The Avatar will be permitted to continue," the referee said. "So long as she solely bends water."

The crowd cheered in excitement, though it wasn't felt by everyone as the Platypus Bear grumbled unhappily. Sota sighed in relief; well, that was one solution that was taken care of. He focused on the ring once more where the next round was now underway, and things were not looking good for Korra.

" _This girl maybe the Avatar, but she's no probender. And the Platypus Bears intend to exploit that weakness."_

The announcer was right, that much Sota could say was true. The Platypus Bears were hammering Korra relentlessly with their bending, and unfortunately for her, that meant she was completely screwed.

"You think your sister has a chance?" Jun asked, still focusing on the match. Before Sota could answer, Korra was hit with a three bender combo which sent her bouncing across the ground, and over the edge into the water.

" _And…she's in the drink."_

"That answer your question?" he asked dejectedly, turning to the girl, only to see that the seat next to him was empty. "Uh, Jun?"

"Sota." The young waterbender felt the blood in his veins freeze up instantly at the voice. Turning his head slowly, he gulped at the very angry look on Tenzin's face.

"Oh, hey, Tenzin…" Sota said slowly as he got to his seat. "What are you doing-"

"March." The airbending master commanded. Sota said nothing else, quickly running out of the room, Tenzin right behind him. Once out in the hall, he grabbed Sota's shoulder and said, "Take me to the locker rooms, now."

Head held down, Sota said nothing as he began to walk and guide Tenzin to the locker rooms. It took them less than a minute to get there, making Sota question just how he had gotten lost the previous night though he didn't question it as he and Tenzin rode the elevator down to the lower part of the ring where the pool was, just as Korra emerged from the water.

Looking up, Korra stared into the angry face of her master as well as the terrified face of her little brother.

"Oh, hey, Tenzin…" she said nervously. Sota almost laughed at the irony of their shared reaction to him, but refrained; the last thing he needed to do was make Tenzin even angrier. "I thought you didn't like coming to these matches?" The nervous laugh Korra gave one seemed to seal their fate more as she climbed out of the water.

"Once again, you have flagrantly disobeyed by orders," he said, arms crossed, much to Sota's relief. That is, until he soon found himself under Tenzin's scrutinizing gaze. "And not only did you go with her, you helped cover it up! You two were to stay on the island. Now, let's go!"

Tenzin turned to leave, Sota following behind like a lost puppy, but stopped as Korra refused to move.

"No! I'm kinda in the middle of something," she protested.

"You got knocked out in the first ten seconds of the round," Sota commented, though he was once again ignored.

"I've tried my very best to get through to you by being gentle and patient," Tenzin said, turning back to look at her. "But clearly the only thing you respond to it force! So I am ordering you to come back to the temple, right now!"

"Why? So Sota and I can sit around and meditate about how bad I am at airbending? You know I'm beginning to think there's a reason I haven't been able to learn it; because maybe I don't even need it!"

"Korra, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say," Sota said. "Maybe you haven't gotten it yet, but you're the Avatar, of course you need to learn it."

"Sota is right. That is a ludicrous suggestion!" Tenzin said heatedly. "The Avatar needs to learn airbending, it is not optional!"

"No, this is what I need to learn!" she argued back, pointing to the ring. "Modern styles of fighting!"

"Being the Avatar isn't all about fighting, Korra! When will you learn that?"

 _Not in this lifetime, that's for sure._ Sota thought sarcastically.

"I have a match to go finish," she said dismissively as she turned around and walked to the elevator, the referee calling out the end of round two. Tenzin huffed, grabbing Sota by the wrist and dragging him along behind him.

Korra made her way back into the ring for round three, and got into position. As soon as the bell rung, she began bending at her opponents, but noticed soon that the heat wasn't on her anymore. They had clearly changed tactics and were now trying to take out Mako and Bolin.

" _The Platypus Bears come out of the gate and quickly go after the Ferret Brothers,"_ the announcer said as the two were back into the ropes and pelted with various attacks. " _They're corralled in the corner, wedged in the edge of Zone One. Unable to come to the Avatar's rescue; and boy, does she need it."_

Korra was completely helpless as she was pelted with fire and earth from the opposing team, nearly getting knocked back a zone.

Up in the stands, Sota watched worriedly as his sister was outmatched. He quickly pulled away from Tenzin, drawing the his attention first to him, then to Korra as she dodged an earth disc before getting nailed by a blast of water. The force of the attack knocked her backward into Zone Two.

" _Looks like the Avatar's probending debut is going to be cut short."_

Tenzin sighed, running a hand down his face in disbelief while Sota continued to look on worriedly.

"Come on, Korra…" the young boy mumbled. Tenzin looked to him and then back to the ring, confused as to why these two were so enamored by this.

" _She's been pushed back into Zone Three and that water is calling her name,"_ The announcer said as Korra literally teetered on the edge of the ring, narrowly spinning out of the way of a disc. Pulling herself together in determination, Korra moved forward to the front of the zone. " _It's only a matter of before-hold the phone! Stop the presses!"_

To everyone's surprise, Korra had dodged not only another disc, but a fire blast as well, almost effortlessly. _"She's still in the game, folks! And she's moving like an entirely different player! All of a sudden, the Platypus Bears' strikes are only striking air!"_

"Yeah! Go Korra!" Sota cheered along with the crowd.

Tenzin stood behind him, stunned by what he had just seen. "How about that…"

"You see, Tenzin?" Sota asked, looking to the older man. "I know Korra may be a bit irrational at time, and she definitely didn't say what she meant the right way, but sometimes, it just take the right kind of motivation to get the point across."

"I believe you're right, Sota," he admitted. "Perhaps I was wrong; maybe this is exactly what she needs."

" _The Platypus Bears have no juice left, but Mako and Bolin are still fresh and juicy!"_

The two brothers instantly jumped back into the fray, pummeling their opponents from Zone One while Korra attacked with her water from back in Zone Three. The Platypus Bears were barely able to keep up, and it was clear that it was starting to take its toll as one by one they were assaulted and sent back into the next zone and then the next before taking a spill into the water below. Their firebender was the only one left, and he stood no chance as Korra bent water attack after water attack at him, sending him over the edge.

" _Knockout!"_

Tenzin and Sota cheered, the younger of the two quickly realizing this and looking at the man in confusion though he had already composed himself as the crowd began to cheer. As Tenzin began to walk away, Sota gave his sister one last proud glance before jogging after him.

" _The Fire Ferrets come from way behind and steal the win! What an upset! The rookies, Avatar in tow, have nabbed a place in the championship tournament! I cannot believe it!"_

Korra gave an appreciative wave to the crowd before walking over to Bolin and high-fiving him. Mako smiled as he walked over to his brother and new teammate.

"Korra, what can I say? You really came alive in that last round. The way you dodged their attacks? You are a natural," he said. "Sorry about the way I treated you before. Your brother too."

"Thanks. I'll be sure to let him know that," she said. "But I can't take all the credit. Someone else taught me those moves."

* * *

Back at the temple, Tenzin stood by and supervised as the air acolytes replaced the spinning door mechanism. Korra walked up to him, unsure of how to really apologize for her behavior.

"I'm really sorry…about everything I said. I was really frustrated with myself and I took it out on you."

"It's alright, Korra. Sota explained it all, and I think I owe you both and apology too. I was trying to teach you about patience, and I lost mine," he admitted.

"No hard feelings?"

"Of course not. By the way, you really good out there tonight," he complimented. "You moved just like an airbender."

"Wait, you stayed an watched?" she asked in surprise.

"Well, Sota persuaded me to, but yes, I did. Probending turned out to be the perfect teaching tool for you."

Korra gave him a grateful smile, which he returned, before saying, "I'll see you tomorrow for airbending practice, bright and early. And by the way…" she said, jogging away from him for this last part. "I kinda permanently joined the Fire Ferrets, and we're playing in the tournament in a couple of weeks."

Tenzin could only sigh at her impulsiveness, but knew that this was really for the best.

* * *

"It was amazing, Nora! You should have seen it how Korra pulled herself together at the end of the match and used her airbender training to dodge!" Sota explained excitedly.

"Sounds like she's really getting the hang of it then," she said happily. "I guess that means that you'll be spending more time at the arena then?"

"Yeah, Korra told me she actually joined their team and that they're gonna be in the championship tournament in a few weeks. I'm actually kinda jealous of her; I'd kill to be able to play in a probending match."

"Well, have you ever thought about playing in one?" She asked him. At the confused look he gave her, Jinora continued to explain, "The age requirement for the league is fifteen. You'll be thirteen in less than a year. I bet that if you started practicing now, you would be a great probender by then."

"But that's almost three years from now. Who knows if Korra and I will even been in the city still by that time." he said.

"Well, it never hurts to be prepared, right? Plus, maybe this will give you a reason to stay."

"Maybe…" he said thoughtfully. "But even so, I don't know any earth of firebenders. I can't be a one man bending team."

"Well it's like you said; that's almost three years from now," Jinora said cheerfully as she got up and headed for the door. Looking at him once more, she said, "You never know what could happen," before closing the door behind her and heading for her own room.

"Yeah…maybe…" he said thoughtfully as he climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling.

* * *

The arena was quiet as people finally made their way out and toward their various vehicles to head home. Two young girls climbed into their private carriage, closing the door behind them as the driver turned on the engine and made his way into traffic.

"So, you got to meet him; what do you think?" Mai-Ling asked Jun excitedly.

Jun, unlike her friend, held no excitement and kept her face the same stoic, bored way it usually was. "He seems good, but we still don't even know if he's even a good waterbender. You're basing your opinion strictly on what you saw when he waterbent into the window last night and on the fact you've got a crush on him."

"I do not have a crush on him," Mai-Ling protested, turning away from her friend. Jun simply rolled her eyes at this. "Look, he's the only one that's come along that seems even remotely good. Plus, he's related to the Avatar! Who could be better than that?"

"Fine, whatever," Jun said. "You win and get your way. Like always. But we'd better hurry up and get to him; we don't have a lot of time."

"Thank you," she replied with a bright smile that just radiated sweetness. "I'm sure he'll fit into the plans perfectly."

"Can you not smile at me like that? You know how creepy I think it is."

Mai-Ling continued to smile as she looked out the window, excitement for what was to come already in her head.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sota yawned loudly, his eyes drooping heavily as he lay across some mats that were on the ground in the gym. After their amazing comeback from their last match, the Fire Ferrets had secured themselves a spot in the tournament. That being said, Mako thought it was a good idea that they get Korra caught up on the rules and regulations as quickly as possible. Korra had excitedly agreed to it.

At the moment, though, she was definitely regretting that decision.

The medicine ball few threw the air and into Korra's arms, pushing her back as she caught it. Korra glared at her teammates, her crankiness showing.

"What's the big idea, making me train _this_ early in the morning?" she complained. "The morning is evil…"

"What's the big idea of dragging me out of bed this early in the morning?" Sota complained to his sister. "Growing boy needs his rest, you know. Plus, I'm not even on the team!"

"Hey, you're just as much a part of this as I am, so you're gonna suffer just like I am," she replied as she threw the ball to Bolin.

"We're the rookies, so we get the worst time slot in the gym," he said, interrupting the squabbling siblings as he caught the ball before tossing it to his brother.

"And you're the rookiest of us all," Mako said with no sympathy. "We gotta get you up to speed if we wanna survive in the tournament. Deal with it!" He tossed the ball forcefully toward her, and though Korra was able to catch it with ease, she was not happy with how he talked to her.

" _You_ deal with it!" she shot back, tossing the ball with extra force. Mako, being caught off guard, was not prepared for the force that was behind the medicine ball, tumbling across the gym floor. Sota snickered at the firebender as he got to his feet and walked over to his smirking sister. The sound of the gym door opening caught their attention as a well dressed man made his way over to them.

"There're my little hard working street urchins," he said as Mako got to his feet and stood next to his teammates. Sota looked at the man in curiosity, wondering if the Ferret brothers knew this man because he knew for a fact that he and Korra didn't. He also found it upsetting that he referred to them all as street urchins, but figured it was best left unmentioned.

The man reached out, touching Korra's shoulder as he said, "It's an honor to finally meet you, Avatar." Looking down, he patted Sota on the head, messing up his hair. "And who might this little scamp be?"

"Sota, my younger brother," she replied uneasily, while the boy in question fixed his hair back into place, a glare centered on the man. "And you are?"

"Butakha," he said shamelessly as he tipped his hat to them. "I run this whole probending shebang."

Korra rolled her eyes and sauntered off, annoyed at all the "excitement" she's had to endure this early in the day. Sota stayed behind with Mako and Bolin to see what this guy was here about and maybe see if you knew anything about the mysterious girls, Mai-Ling and Jun that claimed to frequent the arena. Butakha paid them no mind as his dug into his jacket pocket and fished out some money that he handed off to Mako.

"Here's your winnings from the last match," he said. Mako held a cheesy grin, preparing to put the money away in his pocket, but was stopped as Butakha wagged a finger at him. "Not so fast." The man swiftly snatched a few yuans from the top of the pile. "First, you owe me for the Avatar's new gear."

Sota looked to his sister who looked sheepish at the mention of her gear that they had to get her since Hasook's was obviously too big to fit her.

"Gym and equipment rentals, for last month," he continued to list off, taking more money off the stack. "Rent on your apartment-and a personal loan for groceries."

As Mako looked at his now empty hand, he couldn't help looking at his younger brother in displeasure. Bolin, seeing his brother's look, shrugged, nearly knocking Pabu off his shoulder.

"What? I'm a growing boy," he protested with a pat of his stomach.

"Sounds like you're more of a glutton, to me," Sota said with a grin before turning to the fancy man. "So you own the arena, right?"

"I do," he nodded.

"Then maybe you can help me. I'm looking for a couple of girls who frequent the arena, and-"

"Maybe you should be looking for them on a playground, kid," Mako said in annoyance. Sota gave him a nasty look, preparing a rebuttal, but was cut off by Butakha.

"Sorry, kid, but there are way too many people who come to the arena for me to know who these girls are," he said with a shake of his head. "People come from all across the United Republic to see probending at its finest. How do you expect me to know every one of them?"

"I'm not an idiot; I know it'd be impossible," Sota replied. "But these two are different. I know that they live in the city and come here all the time. One of them even claims to know the arena inside and out because she's climbed all over it, and they have a personal skybox here. Their names are Mai-Ling and Jun, and-"

"Save it, kid. I don't know'em," he said, turning away from a very frustrated Sota and back to Mako and Bolin. "Now, back to business. The Fire Ferrets need to aunty-up 30,000 yuans for the championship pot."

"30,000 yuans!" Bolin shouted. Sota was just as surprised, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Sorry kids," Butahka said sympathetically. "You got til the end of the week to come up with the dough, or else…you're out of the tournament."

Korra walked back over to the boys, standing behind her little brother who looked just as unhappy as Bolin with their predicament. Butahka walked out of the gym, leaving them to talk about what they were gonna do.

"You wouldn't happen to a secret Avatar bank account overflowing with gold, would you?" Bolin asked her.

"I got nothing," Korra said as she pulled out her very clearly empty pockets. The three looked to Sota who raised an eyebrow at them.

"Don't look at me. I got, like, 10 yuans to my name that I got from Jinora, and I left it at home," the young waterbender said.

"We've never really needed money," Korra continued. "I've always had people taking care of me, and Sota's just a kid, so my parents pretty much took care of that."

"Then I wouldn't say you have nothing," Mako said bitterly as he turned away and picked up the medicine ball. Korra's happy demeanor quickly deflated at his tone. Sota, on the other hand, had just about had it with Mako's attitude.

"Look, it's not her fault that she's the Avatar. She didn't ask for it or to be taken care of or any of the responsibility or backlash that comes with it," Sota said heatedly. "Maybe if you could get over your stupid cool guy attitude, you could see that for yourself."

"Whatever," Mako replied, not even looking at him as he put some of the equipment away, pissing Sota off even more. Korra grabbed his shoulder, causing him to look at her as she shook her head. She understood why he was upset; he hadn't exactly had an easy life, and though it wasn't her fault, she still felt responsible for all the torment that he had to endure because of it. Sota, though still very much upset, stopped the next part of his rant while Korra turned to Bolin.

"Sorry about that. Sota gets a bit defensive when it comes to the whole Avatar thing," Korra apologized to her friend. "And sorry about before, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's alright," Bolin assured them, knowing that they meant no harm in what they said. "It's just…ever since we lost our parents we've been on our own."

Korra instantly felt a familiar pain as she glanced down at her brother who, though feeling somewhat sympathetic about their situation, was still miffed with Mako. Korra could recall the very day she had found Sota, out in the snowstorm, all alone and cold, crying his eyes out. That was nothing compared to how she felt when her parents had finally told her what had actually happened to Sota's real parents. The pit that grew in her stomach that day was immeasurable.

Korra could almost not believe that it was true, but deep down, she did. She knew it was completely and utterly true. She was devastated, and could only imagine how Sota would feel. Her parents told her that they would wait until he was older, and could handle the news of him being adopted better before they told him, and Korra instantly agreed, not wanting to hurt her little brother. So to hear that her friends had gone through very much the same thing, hurt her deeply.

"I'm so sorry," she said sincerely. "I didn't know."

"So, anyway," Mako interrupted as he zipped up his gym bag, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. "How're we gonna come up with the money?"

"Oh, oh! I got it!" Bolin cried out. "I've been training Pabu to do circus tricks! Now, people, would pay good money to see that."

Sota looked at Bolin in disbelief. "You honestly think you could get 30,000 yuans from a fire ferret circus act?"

"Sure! Pabu's great! He could pull in the money easily!"

"Come on, Bolin," Mako said, deflating his brother's good mood. "We need serious ideas."

"I was serious…" he said dejectedly.

"Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out; I always do." Everyone watched as Mako walked away, Sota silently wishing he could pull out the water from his pouch and whip Mako with it.

"Your brother's a jerk," Sota said to Bolin. "Even if we can't get all the money, every little bit counts. If you want, I'll help you."

"Thanks, Sota, I appreciate the encouragement," Bolin said, a new look of determination on his face. "We'll prove Mako wrong."

"Well, I wish you both good luck with that," Korra said as she too packed up. "I gotta get back to the temple and practice my airbending. Sota, be back by dinner."

Sota nodded as he watched his sister, a feeling of determination growing inside of him as well. Mako thought he was so cool? Well they were gonna show him. They were gonna get plenty of yuans and show Mako.

* * *

Sota was suddenly starting to regret this decision. They had been out here for hours now, and hadn't made more than a single yuan. And to be honest, he was surprised that they had even made that one.

Bolin was sitting in front of the statue of Firelord Zuko, dressed in a very ridiculous circus performer's outfit as well as a fake mustache that wasn't going to fool anyone. Pabu was dressed in a special little outfit that Bolin had bought for him and had just walked across a tiny platform on his front paws before flipping onto the ground and landing on his front right one. Apparently someone thought it was at least entertaining enough to earn at least one gold coin because that was all that they had gotten from it, even when Bolin held it out and shook it.

"One yuan down, 29,999 to go," Bolin said as he looked at the coin resting in the cup.

"Yeah, and it only took us half the morning to get it," Sota said sarcastically as he leaned against the pillar. A screech caught both their attention as a Satomobile pulled up in front of them. Bolin and Sota looked at it curiously as the window came down.

"Hey, Bolin, is that you?" the man asked as he leaned out the window.

"You know this guy?" Sota asked Bolin, glancing sideways toward him, but still kept facing forward so as not to let this guy out of his sight. He had a bad feeling about him, and was sure that whatever he wanted wasn't good. Must have been the fancy clothes. Their seemed to be a lot of fancy dressed men giving him weird vibes today.

"Uh…yeah, sort of," Bolin said uneasily before turning back to the man. "Hey there, Shady Shin…"

"His name's Shady Shin? That doesn't strike you as bad news? Like at all? Even a little?" Sota whispered.

As Shady Shin got out of his Satomobile, Sota was slightly disturbed to see that he was dressed in a fancy Water Tribe colored suit. He was even more disturbed by the fact he was right about the vibe coming off this guy, but kept his mouth shut; if there was one thing he had learned since he got to the city, it was not to mess with people who gave you a bad vibe. And this guy definitely gave him a bad vibe.

"Heard you're a big time probending player now," Shady Shin said as he walked up to them, hands in his pockets. "Not bad."

"Uh, thanks," Bolin said bashfully.

"Who's your friend?"

"Name's Sota. Brother to the Avatar," he said, trying to make himself sound more intimidating.

"Nice to meet ya, kid. Bet you're a pretty good bender, huh?"

"You could say that."

"So listen; I got an offer for ya, Bolin," he said, pouring on his snake like charm. "Lightning Bolt Zolt is looking to hire some extra muscle."

"Uh, I don't know, Shin," Bolin said. "Mako told me to stay away from the Triple Threats…"

"Wait, the Triple Threats? As in those Triad jerks that my sister tossed around when we got here?" Sota said, his anger raising as he looked at Bolin. "Why would you ever hand out with them!?"

"It's a long story, Sota, and I promise you, it's not what you think," Bolin said quickly, shaking his hands in protest. "Just, trust me, ok?"

"Yeah, kid, trust him," Shin said with a grin that only creped Sota out even more. "And come on, Bolin. Your brother ain't the boss of you. It's just a little security work. Nothing crooked." Digging in his jacket, Shin pulled out a bundle of cash, throwing it into the cup in Bolin's lap.

The young man gapped at the cash, not believing what he was seeing. Sota was just as awestruck by the money, never having seen so much in one place before in his entire life. How could a guy like this have money like that?

Shin pulled out another stack identical to the last one, and held it up in front of them. The two boys' eyes followed it as he waved it in front of them, another grin coming to his face.

"And, if your little friend here helps, I'll pay you double," Shin said. "I'm sure that the brother of the Avatar would be able to handle something simple like this. You two game?"

* * *

Jinora and Ikki whipped their hands around, gathering wind above their heads as Korra stood at the opposite end of the spinning doors, waiting for them to begin spinning. Thrusting their arms to the side, the wind shot out and began to spin the doors in quick succession.

Korra moved swiftly through them, her body moving as if on autopilot. Her arms whipped around her body and above her head as she spun effortlessly with the flow of the wind.

"Good, light on your feet!" Jinora called. Korra continued to focus, finishing with one final spin as she emerged on the other side in front of them. Catching her breath, Korra paid no attention to the two girls as they looked over her shoulder to see a handsome boy coming up the stairs.

"Ooo, he's cute," she said, Ikki running up next to her sister. "Korra, is that the handsome firebender boy that drives you crazy?"

Korra looked at her in confusion, before looking over her shoulder to see Mako walking toward her. A look of mortification came to her face as she looked back at them.

"Does he drive you crazy in a bad way? Or does he drive you crazy like you like him?" Ikki teased. Korra looked at them in terror, praying to the spirits that Mako hadn't heard her, and quickly slammed her foot on the ground, shooting the two giggling airbender girls into the sky and away from her before turning to her teammate.

"Oh, hey, Mako," she said awkwardly.

"You seen Bolin?" he asked rudely.

"Nice to see you too," she replied, before a look of thought came to her face. "And no, I haven't seen him or Sota since practice." Worry crept into Korra as she looked at the firebender. "Think something's wrong?"

"I don't know," Mako said, looking off into the woods. "Bolin has a knack for getting into stupid situations. And if that's the case, he may have dragged Sota into it."

"Sota's in trouble?" Jinora asked in worry.

"No, I'm sure that he's perfectly fine. Sota's not normally one to do something dumb like that, but he does have his moments," Korra replied, she too now in deep thought. She knew that Sota wasn't one to get himself into trouble; quite the opposite actually since he was usually the one trying to keep her out of trouble. The thought of him being in trouble out in the city did not sit well with her, but she couldn't let Jinora see that she was worried or else it would only upset the little airbender further.

"I'd better go find them. See ya later," Mako said, turning to leave.

"Wait," Korra called, running after him. "I'm coming too to help you look for them."

"Nah, I got it."

Grabbing his arm, Korra smirked. "Hey, cool guy, letting me help you. Besides, my little brother is part of this too. We can take Naga."

"Who's Naga?"

"My best friend," Korra said proudly. "And a great tracker."

* * *

Sota stood outside in the alley near the hideout, trying desperately to ignore the sounds of what was going on around him, but that seemed impossible. It was bad enough that he knew that what he was going on was probably illegal, but then to actually be considered a part of it only made him feel worse. He could just imagine the disappointment on his parents' faces, not to mention the angry one on his sister's face. Thankfully, Bolin had agreed that they wouldn't tell their older siblings where they had truthfully acquired the money. Sota didn't feel right about that either, but knew that Korra would have his head if she knew he was working with the Triple Threat Triads.

Speaking of Bolin, he looked just as uncomfortable being here, especially given that he was actually known by many of the gangsters present. Apparently, he and Mako used to run numbers for them. This made Sota feel slightly better knowing that they weren't really criminals, but that didn't mean he felt any better about being here.

 _Just remember, you're doing this for Korra,_ he chanted in his head for the thousandth time since they'd arrived. He hand constantly flipped the lid of his water pouch anxiously, his nerves on edge. Apparently, this "security work", had a lot more to it then what Shady Shin had told them, not that Sota was surprised. From what he had picked up, there were at least three other gangs that were trying to steal their territory, and the Triple Threats were trying to protect their turf. Sota hadn't signed up for this, but Bolin had assured him that everything would be ok.

The sound of tires screeching made him jump as a truck whipped around the corner and onto the street before them. Sota could feel his heart beating furiously against his chest as everyone prepared for the fight. Bolin shifted his stance, bringing up two boulders beside him, while Sota pulled the water from his pouch and shifted his stance.

As the truck came to a stop, the sound of more engines caught their attention as five motorized bikes whipped around the corner, masked people sitting on them. Sota blinked in confusion as he looked at them. They were all wearing dark suits and mask, though the eyes of the masked glowed an eerie greenish yellow, and on the forehead was a large red dot that instantly reminded him of that Amon guy he'd seen posters of.

The back door to the truck opened up, more people in masks jumping out and swinging boas in their hands. The ones on the motorcycles jumped off, tossing canisters on the ground which instantly filled the small space with smoke, blinding everyone.

Sota stumbled backwards as the sounds of fighting erupted around him, the ground rumbling under his feet. A shout to his left startled him as Bolin came into view for one quick moment, a masked man slipping under him and jabbing him in the back. Sota watched as the pro earthbender dropped to the ground unceremoniously. Shifting his stance, he sent a whip of water at the man, grabbing him around the waist while his back was turned. Once he had the man in his grasp, Sota began to pull with all his might, but yelped as a jab hit him from the side. His left arm instantly went dead, causing him to drop the water and the man in his grasp.

Nearby on the ground, Bolin cried out to his young friend, trying to warn him of the other chi-blocker that had just taken him down, but it was too late as the man was already closing in on Sota, now that he could only use one hand to waterbend.

Turning to his left, he came face to face with a masked woman who was swinging at him again. Sota rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being him, but was once again jabbed as the man from before got him from behind, hitting him in the back from the bottom of his spine to the back of his neck. Sota felt his legs give out, bringing him to his knees, the rest of his body hanging limply. The woman walked up to him, grabbing him under the chin and forcing him to look into her glowing eyes before she viciously punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.

Bolin watched as they tied Sota up, guilt pulsing through him as he watched the young boy's limp body get tossed into the back of the truck. A chi-blocker came up behind him, tying his hands behind his back as well before pulling him to his feet. His eyes darted around the alley, the smoke finally clear, and instantly landed on his pet fire ferret.

"Run, Pabu!" he shouted. "Got find Mako!" His mouth was soon gagged by a bandana before being pushed toward the truck. Bolin could only hope that Pabu would bring his brother here to save them, for both his and Sota's sake.

* * *

"Your best friend is a…polar bear dog," Mako said, not the least bit surprised. "Somehow, that makes perfect sense."

"I'll take that as a complement, city boy," Korra said jokingly as Naga walked down the street following their brothers' scents. They soon found themselves in front of the same statue of Lord Zuko that Bolin and Sota had been at that afternoon. The small plaza was crowded with various people, young and old, but there was no sign of their brothers anywhere.

"Well…this is his usual hangout," Mako said, hopping off of Naga's back. Korra followed suit and followed him as he walked over to a group of kids playing near a light pole. There laughter echoed around the square, though one boy in particular stood out from the rest as he hung back from them, and Korra made a mental comparison of him to a monkey but made sure not to voice this opinion.

"You guys seen my brother around here today?" Mako asked.

"Perhaps," the monkey boy replied, walking up to them and holding his hand out as he said, "My memories a little…foggy. Maybe you can help, clear it up?"

"You're good, Skoochy," Mako conceded, scratching his head and pulling out a bill that he placed in the boy's hand. Korra gapped at his, shocked that this kid had not only just bribed them for the information, but that Mako had actually caved and paid him for it. "A real pro."

"Yeah, I seen him."

"When?"

"Bout noon."

"What was he doing?"

"He was hanging around with some Water Tribe kid. They were performing some kinda, monkey rat circus. And then…" he trailed off, holding his hand out. Mako rolled his eyes, Korra doing the same, but pulled out another bill that he placed in his hand.

"And then what? Why'd they leave?"

Skoochy looked around before leaning in and whispering behind his hand. "Shady Shin showed up and flashed some serious cash. Bolin and that kid took off with him in his hot rod. The Triple Threats, The Red Monsoons, The Agni Kais; all the triads are muscling up for something real big. Now that's all you getting out of me."

Skoochy ran off, waving his friends after him. The others quickly chased after him leaving Mako and Korra to mull over the information that they had just received.

"What's he talking about?" Korra asked in worry.

"Sounds like there's a turf war brewing," Mako said hauntingly. "And our brothers are about to get caught right in the middle of it."

Korra's eye grew wide as she the thought of Sota getting caught up in something like this made her stomach twist into knots. The two benders ran back onto Naga, jumping onto her back as Korra took the reins, and taking off at full speed.

"So where are we headed?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even.

"The Triple Threat Triad's headquarters. Hopefully they're still there and nothing's gone down yet," Mako said, a similar feeling of worry, as well as anger about his brother's stupidity, coursing through his body.

"Triple Threat Triad's? I beat up some of those yahoos when Sota and I got into town," Korra said. "Why would Bolin and Sota get tangled up with-" she was cut short as Naga took a swift turn, chasing after something. As the small creature turned the corner and ran up a light pole, Korra and Mako realized that it was Pabu that Naga was chasing.

"That's Pabu!" Mako shouted.

"No, Naga!" Korra said, reining in her polar bear dog. "Pabu's a friend, not a snack."

Pabu and Naga sniffed each other, touching noses for a second, before the small ferret jumped off the light pole, running up his new friend's body and securing himself around Mako's neck.

"We gotta hurry," the firebender said. He knew that if Pabu was here without Bolin, then that means that Bolin was probably in trouble.

Korra and Mako soon made their way to the hideout, finding the outside streets completely abandoned. Mako knew this wasn't normal protocol; the triads always had at least a few guards standing out in the front of the building to guard it. This put him even more on edge as they walked up to the entrance.

"Something's not right," he said. "There're usually thugs posted out front. We'd better be cautious."

Korra ignored his warning, walking up to the doors and kicking them in. She was in no mood for games, and needed to find her little brother as soon as possible, and she wasn't gonna let anyone stand in her way of finding him. Walking in, they were surprised to find the entire place completely empty. Mako walked in, Naga and Pabu with him as Korra looked around, annoyed with all of this.

"Bolin? Bolin? You in here?" Mako called.

"Sota?" Korra cried out. The sound of an engine startled them as they looked to the back entrance to the building. The two ran to it, kicking it open to find themselves in an alley way. The masked chi-blockers from before revved the engines of their bikes as the truck drove off, bouncing down the road with the door open.

Bolin looked out to see his brother and friend standing in the alley, however, his sight was cut off as a chi-blocked pulled the doors shut. Korra gasped as she saw a limp figure on the ground of truck bed that she instantly recognized as her little brother. Her blood instantly boiled as she and Mako took off after them.

"Bolin!"

"Sota!"

The chi-blockers on the bikes threw down canisters of green smoke that cut off their view before taking off out of the alleyway. Korra and Mako coughed as they moved out of the smoke to find the alley empty.

"Naga, come!" Korra called out. The polar bear dog barreled down the road, allowing them to jump on her back and took off after the truck.

The truck sped away with the bikers behind it, turning around corners in an attempt to lose them. Mako leaned over, throwing balls of fire at the chi-blockers who swerved on their bikes to avoid the fiery blast. They were quick, Korra admitted, but she wasn't about to let them get away. Dropping the reins, she shifted her hands, bending earth up behind them. The ground snaked and cracked under a chi-blocker, launching him into the air. The biker shifted in the air before landing gracefully back on the ground and speeding off as if he'd never been sent flying.

As they came into an open, empty plaza, two chi-blockers slowed down, one spinning and throwing a boa at Naga's feet. The large polar bear dog's ankles were wrapped and caught, tripping her and sending Korra and Mako flying off of her. The two benders hit the ground roughly, sliding across it.

The chi-blockers back flipped across the ground and landed in front of them as Mako and Korra got to their feet. Lighting their fist a blazed with fire, the probenders began to try to defend themselves.

The female chi-blocker jumped over Korra's fire blast, landing in front of her. Korra shot another blast upward, but the chi-blocker dipped under her arm, knocking them away with ease. Korra jumped up and brought a fiery foot down toward her, but again she was evaded. Kicking up more fire, Korra's leg was caught and twirled around by her opponent, who then took the opportunity to jab up the side of Korra's right arm.

Korra groaned as her arm went dead at her side, but stayed determined as she tried to fight her off with one hand. She shot off more fire, even trying to sweep her with a wave of fire from her foot before jumping into the air and shooting it at her, but never once hit. She fired again, throwing a spin with a fiery arc at the masked woman.

Mako wasn't doing much better as he tried to evade the man he was fighting, who was definitely more aggressive then his female counterpart. Mako let out a loud groan as his right arm went limp, wincing at the feeling of his chi being blocked. He tried one last time to sling fire at his opponent, but it was useless. The chi-blocker ducked under him, sweeping around the back and jabbing him up the left side.

Korra groaned as she was hit in the same spots, shutting off her bending. The chi-blockers wasted no time to knocking their defenseless opponents to the ground. Naga growled before she began to bite at her restraints.

Korra and Mako looked on in fear as the chi-blockers twirled their boas, preparing to capture two more victims, but before they could, they stopped as an angry polar bear dog charged at them, roaring in rage. Pabu hopped off of Naga and shrieked at them.

Knowing that they were outmatched, the chi-blockers jumped into the air, the male throwing another smoke grenade to cover them. The sound of engines could be heard once more as they drove out of the smoke and away from the Avatar and the her friend.

Korra and Mako breathed sighs of relief as they pulled themselves up. Naga nudged her master, helping her to her feet. Korra instantly knew something was wrong as she looked at her hands. Shifting, she tried to firebend, only to find that she could not only not produce it, but not feel it either.

"I can't bend," she cried out, trying once more only to have the same results. "I can't bend!"

"Calm down, it'll wear off," Mako assured her, now back on his feet as well. "Those guys were chi-blockers. They're Amon's henchmen."

"Amon? That anti-bending guy with the mask?"

"Yeah. He's the leader of the Equalists."

"What do they want with the Triple Threats?" Korra asked as she rubbed her sore arm.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Mako said, looking down the empty alleyway before pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe Bolin got himself into this mess."

"And Sota's with him," Korra said sadly, before her fiery spirit kicked back into gear. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Korra assured him, "Mako, we are going to save our brothers. I promise you that."

Mako looked at her uncertainly for a moment, but put a mask of determination on his face. Korra didn't blame him. It sounded bad even to her. But she wouldn't rest until she found Sota. Even if it took all night.

 **To be continued…**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Korra and Mako rode around on Naga all night, searching for their brothers, but came up short with no traces of them anywhere. They were beyond exhausted, and it was almost surise. The sky was no longer dark, and the street lights were beginning to extinguish. Naga panted heavily as she walked, Mako rubbed his eyes while Pabu slept across his shoulders and Korra was barely keeping her eyes open at this point.

"We've been out all night…" she said tiredly. "No sign of them."

"We've gotta keep looking," Mako replied just as tiredly. "But where?"

Korra had closed her eyes, desperately trying to think of some way to find them. Then, like lightning, it hit her. She instantly whipped around to face Mako.

"I have an idea," she said before turning Naga around and taking off.

* * *

Sota groaned, his mind foggy as he head throbbed. His blurry vision was slowly beginning to clear, but that did nothing to make him feel better.

"Sota!" A voice shouted. He recognized it as Bolin's extremely boisterous that seemed to carry on forever as it rattled inside of his head, making him want to groan again at the pain. Looking up, he looked into the dimly lit face of the earthbender who had a happy smile on his face. "Thank goodness, you're alive! I thought that they had- when I honestly didn't know what to think because you were out cold for so long, and-"

"Shhh!" Sota said, finger to his lips as he pushed himself up. Sota struggled to get to his feet, wobbling a bit. Bolin placed a hand on his shoulder, easing the young boy to the wall so he could sit more comfortably. Sota nodded gratefully to him, looking around the small jail cell that they were being held in alongside other members of the Triple Threats. "Where are we?"

"Don't know. After they knocked you out, they loaded us up into a truck and took us somewhere. Only thing I was able to figure out is that we're underground somewhere."

"Who took us?"

"Chi-Blockers. They work for Amon. They blocked your chi so you couldn't bend. It's temporary, but they made sure none of us could bend in here."

Sota looked down to see that his watch satchel was indeed gone, taking away his only means of bending away from him. It's times like this that he wished he could firebend or airbend; without any water, he felt so naked and powerless.

"Why does my head hurt? And how long have we been here?" Sota asked.

"A few hours. If I had to guess, it's probably close to morning by now. And as for why your head hurts, well…one of the chi-blockers hit you pretty hard when she knocked you out."

"Of course she did," he said, looking out of the bars to see a few chi-blocker guards watching all of them carefully. Sota swallowed the nerves building up inside of him, trying to remain calm, though he knew he was completely terrified right now. Leaning in so only Bolin could hear him, he whispered, "We need to get out of here, Bolin."

"We can't," he said sadly. "A few of the other prisoners had already tired. Not only did they get caught, but no one's seen them since. Right now, the best we can hope for is that Mako and Korra can find us. When they were loading us up, I saw them outside the hideout. I'm sure that they're looking for us and will find us soon."

"I hope you're right," he said, leaning his head back against the cold metal wall.

* * *

The early morning light was breaking through the sky, coloring it a brilliant grayish blue. Korra would have been more then glad to take in the early morning beauty of the park if she wasn't so tired and stressed out. Naga walked slowly toward the fountain, extremely exhausted from carrying her two companions all night long. Upon reaching the fountain, Naga dipped her head, lapping up the refreshing water. Pabu ran down her back and to her head, eagerly following her example while Korra and Mako hopped off and rested against it.

"The first day Sota and I got into town, we ran into an equalist protestor over there," Korra said, pointing to the now empty equalist stand. Korra had a small smile on her face as she remembered the day. "Sota tried to keep me from over reacting and making a fool of myself…just like he always does…"

Mako was quiet for a moment, letting her sit in her memory before speaking again. "And you think they'll know where our brothers are?"

"It's our only lead right now," she admitted, feeling a bit unsure of her idea.

The two of them sat for hours, both exhausted. Korra could feel herself wanting to fall asleep, and was sure Mako was feeling the same, but knew that they had to stay awake so as not to miss their chance at getting the information that they needed.

"So…why is Bolin running around with the Triple Threat Triad, anyway?" she asked, trying to make some conversation.

"Well we…" Mako started as he looked away from Korra, trying to find a good way of saying this and not cause her to overact. "We used to do some work for them back in the day."

"What!?" Korra asked in displeased shock. "Wha-are you some kind of criminal!?"

"No!" Mako said, annoyed at the accusation. "You don't know what you're talking about. I just ran numbers for them and stuff. We were orphans out on the street; I did what we had to survive and protect my little brother."

Korra said nothing as she continued to stare at him, his words hitting home. She had never thought of it that way.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely as her gaze dropped to the ground. "It must have been really hard." Mako said nothing, though Korra hadn't really expected him to anyway. "Can I ask…what happened to your parents?"

Mako sighed; he never enjoyed telling the story, a constant reminder of the pain he and Bolin had to suffer with day after day for the last ten years.

"They were mugged. By a firebender. He cut them down right in front of me. I was eight."

"Mako…" Korra said, stunned.

"Bolin's the only family I have left. If anything happened to him…"

"I understand."

"How could you?"

Korra paused for a minute, debating if she should really tell her brother's secret. It wasn't right, especially since he himself didn't know, but after Mako had just opened up to her, it only seemed right.

"I know because…Sota's not my brother," she admitted.

"What do you mean?" Mako asked, looking at her in confusion.

"Well…he is, but at the same time, he isn't."

"I'm not following you."

"You see, when I was a kid, I had wandered off in the middle of a snowstorm. While there, I found a hut and inside was a baby. That baby was Sota."

"So…he's adopted…"

"I saved his life that night, and convinced my parents to adopt him. I never knew what happened to his real parents, and never really thought about it. It wasn't until just a few years that my parents told me what happened. They were killed by roaming bandits, and then dragged away by tiger seals."

"I'm sorry that he lost his parents."

"Thanks, but, he doesn't know that he lost them. We haven't told Sota that he's adopted," Korra said, shocking Mako. "My parents want to wait til he's older. I hate lying to him and keeping him in the dark because, even though we're not related by blood, he's still my little brother, and we're the only family he's got left. I can't let anything happen to him because…"

"Because what, Korra?" Mako asked in genuine worry.

"Because if I can't even protect someone I care about as his older sister, how can I protect the world as the Avatar?"

Mako said nothing, simply turning back forward and closing his eyes, contemplating what he had just been told by his teammate. Korra hadn't expected him to say anything else, so when he did, she found herself not only shocked by it, but also by what he says.

"Blood or not, he's your brother. We're gonna find him and Bolin, not matter what."

Korra gave a small smile as she faced forward, though her thoughts were still a jumbled mess of worry about Sota. She could only hope that they really did find him and Bolin soon. She didn't know how much longer she could go on worrying like this.

* * *

The morning sun shined bright in the sky over the park, giving the earth a warm bath of its light. Sunshine filtered through the leaves of the overhead trees, falling upon the two sleep teenager and their pets. Luckily for them, the shade was plentiful, making it much cooler and easier to sleep.

"Equality now! Equality Now!" a man shouted into his megaphone. "We want equality now!"

The shrillness was enough to rouse Korra and Mako asleep, making for a very awkward situation as they realize that they were leaning on each other all night. With a startled yelp, the two jumped apart, but before the embarrassment could really settle in, their attention was drawn back to the protestor.

"Nonbenders of Republic City," he decalred.

"That's the guy," Korra confirmed, pointing to the very loud nuisance. Getting to their feet, they walked over to the table he was standing on.

"Amon calls you to action! Take back your city! It's time for the-" The man gasped as he once again came face to face with the Avatar who looked none too pleased to see him. "It's you again! You cannot silence me Avatar!"

Korra was in no mood for his games. She swiftly knocked the megaphone out of his hand where it proceeded to smash against the ground in many pieces.

"Shut your yapper and listen up," she said. "My brother and my friend got kidnapped by some chi-blockers. Where'd they take them?"

"I have no idea what you're talkingabout," he declared, crossing his arms and looking away from her.

"Oh, I think you do," Korra said, lifting her foot up before bringing it back down to the ground. A small pillar of earth shot up, knocking the table into the sky and the protestor off of it. Flyers began to rain down upon them. The protestor scrambled around, snatching up as many flyers as he could.

Mako snagged one out of the air, examining it carefully. "Witness the revelation tonight, 9 o'clock," he said as he read it. Looking to the still scrambling protestor, he asked, "What's this revelation?"

"Nothing that concerns the likes of _you_ two," he replied snidely. Korra was having none of it though as she grabbed him and lifted him into the air.

"You'd better believe it concerns us," she said, intimidation dripping into her voice. "Spill it."

"No one knows what the revelation is! And I have no idea what happened to your friends, but if they're benders, then my bet is they're getting what's coming to them."

"Where's is happening?" Mako demanded as the sound of a police whistle reached their ears. Turning, they spotted the same heavy-set officer that had chased her and Sota out of the park before, heading toward them.

"Hey! What's going on over there!?" he shouted.

"The Avatar's oppressing us! Help!" The protestor cried out. Korra resisted the urge to shout out "Not again!" as she turned to Mako, dropping the annoying protestor in the process.

"Let's scram!" she said as she began to run. Mako wasn't far behind, stopping only for a moment to snatch up a handful of flyers before hopping on the back of Naga behind Korra. Wasting no time, they took off full speed.

* * *

"Hey, how's about some grub?" Bolin cried out as he gripped the bars of the jail cell. SOta simply rolled his eyes. "We're kinda hungry over here. Need to eat, all that."

"That's not gonna work, you know," Sota said.

"Hey, you need to be a bit more optimistic, ok? I bet they're bringing us food, right now."

"And why exactly would they do that, Bolin?"

"So we can keep our strength up for…well…whatever it is that we're going to be doing."

"Wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose of keeping us prisoner then?" Sota asked, resisting the urge to facepalm himself. Again.

Bolin opened his mouth to reply, but found that he couldn't think of anything to retaliate Sota's claim.

"That's what I thought," he said, placing his chin on his knees as he remained curled up. "I hope Korra and Mako find us soon…if they ever find us at all."

"Hey, come on," Bolin said, sitting down next to him. "I know that they're gonna find us. Korra's the Avatar, and Mako's the smartest guy I know. If anyone's gonna find us, it's them."

Sota looked to Bolin, a small smile on his face, though it quickly slipped from his face as a coupld chi-blockers came to their cell, boas in hand and menacing glow to their goggled eyes. Whatever was going to happen, Sota didn't have a good feeling about it.

Korra and Mako ran until they reached a safe space under the rail yard. Sitting on a bench, the two of them looked over the various flyers for anything significant, but were coming up extremely short.

"Why didn't the Equalist put a location on these?" Korra asked.

"Probably because they don't want just anyone waltzing into their big, _revelation,"_ Mako replied back, the last part sounding dramatic. "Whatever that is. I bet the information is hidden on here somehow." Picking up one, he examined the back. "Look at the backs. There's four different images."

"So…it's a puzzle?" Korra asked, the piece falling into place.

"Yeah…of a map!" Mako said excitedly. Picking up the four different backs, Mako pieced them together before moving over to a map posted of the city next to them. Moving the piece across it, it wasn't long before their eyes located the matching part of the map. "Bingo. That must be where it's going down."

The two look at each other, smiles of determination etched on their faces.

Later that night, the two now disguised probenders snuck up to the outside of a building, the location just insight. Mako pressed himself against the wall while Korra leaned around him to see.

"There's the place," Mako said. The two quickly pulled their hats on to hide their identities even more; the last thing they needed was someone recognizing them and outing them as benders too. As they walked toward the building, Korra wrapped herself around Mako's right arm. "What are you doing?"

"We'll attract less attention this way," she said, her voice calm and serious. Though this was her actual intention, there was no doubt a deep part of her that secretly just wanted to do it to be close to him.

As they approached the door, they came to a stop before a very burly looking man. The man scrutinized them heavily, crossing his arms over his chest.

"This is a private event. No one gets in without an invitation," he said.

"Uh…invitation?" Korra asked nervously. The guard raised his eyebrow questioningly at them.

"You this?" Mako asked, pulling a flyer from his pocket. The guard took the flyer, looking it over quickly before smiling to them.

"The revelation is upon us, my brother and sister," he said, stepping aside to let them in. The two made quick work entering the building, relieved that they made it through so easily without any problem.

The building was clearly an old factory, which made sense as to why it had been picked for the location. It could fit hundreds easily and would go unnoticed by anyone who wasn't supposed to be there. They made their way to the center looking over as railing to see a crowd gathered in front of a stage.

"I knew a lot of people hated benders, but I've never seen so many in one place," Mako comments as he looked over the crowd. Korra was doing much of the same when he said, "Keep an eye out for our brothers," before heading toward some stairs to the lower floor. Korra followed behind him, pushing her hat tighter onto her head.

They pushed their way through the crowd just as the stage lights activated and the announcer began to speak.

" _Please welcome, your hero, your savior…AMON!"_ he declared, the crowd cheering as smoke began to pour across the stage and a platform started to rise from it. There were seven of people on the platform. Five were definitely chi-blockers, a sixth was a man wearing dual weapons. His uniform was different then the chi-blockers, making them believe that he was probably of some type of importance.

Lastly, front and center, was Amon himself, hands behind his back like the others, his head held down. As the spotlight hit him, he looked up, sending the crowd into even more of a frenzy. Korra looked on at him, slightly stunned by the intimidation that he seemed to bring so easily.

Walking up to the microphone, Amon looked upon the crowd.

"My quest for equality began many years ago," he declared. "When I was a boy, my family and I lived on a small farm. We weren't rich, and none of us were benders. This made us very easy targets for the firebender who extorted my father.

"One day, my father confronted this man…but when he did, that firebender took my family from me. Then…he took my face."

The crowd gasped, appalled by what they had heard.

"I've been forced to hide behind a mask ever since," Amon said, bitterness evident in his voice. Mako and Korra looked at each other, the later of the two being more worried than the former. "As you know, the Avatar had recently arrived in Republic City."

This instantly got a negative reaction as everyone started to "booo" at the mention on the Avatar. Korra suddenly felt very self-conscious, pulling her scarf up over her face to hide.

"And if she were here, she would tell you that bending brings balance to the world. But, she is wrong. The only thing that bring bending has brought to the world is suffering. It has been the cause of every war, in every era. But that, is about to change."

Though Korra was extremely displeased with not only how he was talking about her and the previous Avatars, she couldn't help being intrigued by whatever he was playing at.

"I know you have been wondering "What is the revelation?". You are about to get your answer," Amon said. Korra and Mako looked at each other again, worry coursing through them both. "Since the beginning of time, the Spirits have acted as guardians of our world. And they have spoken to me. They say the Avatar has failed humanity."

Though she was still nervous, Korra couldn't help glaring at him. If the situation wasn't so dire, she'd show Amon a thing or two.

"That is why, the Spirits have chosen me to usher in a new era of balance. They have granted me a power that will make equality a reality. The power to take a person's bending away; permanently."

The crowd gasp, shocked by what Amon had said, but no one was more shocked then Korra. Her blue eyes grew wide as she tried to process what he had just said.

"That's…impossible…" she whispered, turning to Mako. "There's no way…"

"This guy's insane," Mako agreed with her. There really couldn't be a way to take away someone's bending.

"Now, for a demonstration," Amon decreed, gesturing behind him. "Please welcome, Lightning Bolt Zolt, leader of the Triple Threat Triad, and one of the most notorious criminals in Republic City."

The crowd Booo'd him in disdain, though the gangster didn't seem bothered by it all. Not like he was trying to win any popularity contest.

"Ah, boo ya selves," he shouted back. The chi-blockers brought out five more people, including Shady Shin, all of which were dropped to their knees, their arms bound. At the very end were Sota and Bolin, both of which looked terrified.

Bolin looked around wildly, his eyes shifting side to side as sweat poured down the side of his face. Sota wasn't fairing much better. His icy blue eyes jumped from side to side, staring at the crowd that he couldn't see because of the blinding stage lights. His bound wrist pulled at the restraints as best he could, but he was finding it to be completely impossible to free himself, and with no water nearby, there was no way he was getting free. Sota had never been this scared in his entire life, and if what Amon had said was true, this wasn't going to end well for him.

Korra's eyes went wide at the sight of her brother and friend; they were safe, for the time being.

"There they are," she whispered to Mako, prepared to charge in and fight her way through to them, but stopped as he grabbed a hold of her shoulder.

"Wait. We can't fight them all," he said logically. "We need to be smart about this."

"Then come up with a game plan, team captain," she said irritably.

"Zolt has amassed a fortune by extorting and abusing non-benders. But his reign of terror is about to come to an end," Amon said. "Now, in the interest of fairness,I will give Zolt the chance to fight, to keep his bending." The second in command quickly untied Zolt, shoving him opposite Amon.

Zolt smirked at him confidently. "Your gonna regret doing dat pal," he said, launching a fireball at the Equalist leader. Amon easily zigzagged and dodged blast after blast as he made his way closer and closer to Zolt. Seeing that his fire wasn't doing him much good, Zolt charged up the famous lightning that he was known for, firing a streak at Amon. Unfortunately for him, that was his undoing.

Amon dipped under him, grabbing his wrist. With a swift turn, Amon twisted him around, forcing him to face the other way while he guided Zolt's hand into the air. Dropping him to the ground, Amon grabbed Zolt forcibly by the scruff of his neck before raising his right hand and placing his right thumb on Zolt's forehead. Zolt's eyes bugged out, a groan of discomfort echoing from his mouth.

From his spot on the stage, Sota's mouth hung open in horrified shock as the lightning that flash streaked a few times before dying down and changing into fire that too eventually died. Korra was having a similar reaction as she watched she watched Zolt drop to the ground, unmoving for a few moments before groaning and pushing himself to his knees. Throwing an angry fist toward Amon, Zolt attempted to fire blast the man into oblivion, but nothing came out from his fist. The crowd gasps, murmurs of disbelief coming from them.

Breathing hard, Zolt looked on at Amon, fear in his voice. "Wha-What did you do to me?"

"Your firebending is gone. Forever," Amon declared before looking back to the crowd. "The era of bending is over. A new era of equality has begun."

Sota began to struggle even more as he watched the chi-blocker pull Shady Shin to his feet, untying him and kicking him toward Amon. His heart began to beat furiously at the thought that he was about to lose his bending. He needed to do something and fast because if not, he and Bolin were as good as done for.

His eyes shifted around rapidly, landing on one of the chi-blockers that was standing just to their left. His breath hitched as an idea struck him. It was a stupid idea, that was for sure, but at this point, what did he have to lose?

Of course, without the full moon, who's to say that it would even work? Not to mention that after the last incident, Sota was still disgusted with himself and could only imagine the reaction that would come from anyone saw him do it. In fact, this could draw more attention to him and get his bending taken away even quicker. But at this point, what did he really have to lose? He would lose his bending one way or another.

Focusing on the chi-blocker, Sota tried to recall the feeling, as disgusting as it was and made him feel. He tried to feel for the water in his body, to feel the movement of his blood as it coursed through his veins. The chi-blocker didn't budge as Sota tried to push his way into his body, though it didn't seem to be working.

Closing his eyes, Sota focused as hard as he could, trying to force himself to relive the memory of his blood bending accident three years ago. The feeling, though years old, was still fresh in the front of his mind. He could feel the power surging in his body, the feeling of his chi locking onto another. Opening his eyes, he turned to the chi blocker once more, willing him to fall under his control, to twitch repeatedly, to crumple to the ground, anything.

Sota was about to give up when, for a slight moment, he could feel it, and watched the chi-blocker as his body involuntarily locked up. He gripped one of his bound hands, squeezing it into a fist. The chi-blocker started to move, though his body was clearly resisting, something Sota knew was a result of not having the power of the full moon. Closing his eyes once more, he attempted to push more of his power into it.

Sota gasped in fright as his mind replayed the horrified image of Korra's stunned face. An instant sickening feeling flood his body, breaking his concentration and freeing the chi-blocker from his already weak grasp. Sota held back a groan as he jerked forward, his body spasming as he resisted the urge to vomit.

"Sota!" Bolin cried out in worry. The young waterbender began breathing hard as his head pounded.

Out in the audience, Korra, who's eyes had been on her younger brother, suddenly grew even more anxious to get to him after seeing him jerk forward the way he did. She didn't know what was wrong with him, but she swore, if they had hurt her little brother, they would pay with their lives.

"Any ideas yet?" she asked Mako.

"I think so," he replied, turning to his left. "See those machines? They're powered by water and stream. If you create some cover, Sota can waterbend and I can get to him and Bolin without anyone seeing. Then, we duck outta here."

"Works for me," she readily agreed. As Mako turned to leave, she grabbed his shoulder and held up her hand. "Good luck."

"You too," he agreed, grabbing hers before turning and going their separate ways.

Korra quietly snuck out of the audience, double checking that she wasn't being followed before turning and running into the hall. It didn't take her long to find a valve, its large red wheel sticking out invitingly. Grasping it in each hand, Korra gave it a turn, watching as a small bit of steam came shooting out.

"It's not enough," she mumbled to herself, bending down to turn another valve. She was rewarded with more steam, but didn't get a chance to bask in her accomplishment.

"Hey you," a voice called. Korra turned to see the guard from before making his way toward her menacingly as the steam filled the room.

Back in the middle of crowd, Mako was pushing his way forward to the front, ignoring the annoyed protest from the various people he moved past as well as the agonized groan coming from Shady Shin as his bending was taken from him by Amon.

Bolin watched as the next person was brought forth to fight Amon for his bending, worry pumping through him; he would need a miracle if he hoped to get him and Sota out here now, especially since Sota was next, and he definitely wasn't looking too good.

* * *

Korra looked upon the man nervously as he towered over her.

"Is there a problem, my brother?" she asked.

"What are you doing back here?" he asked her accusingly.

"Um…looking for the bathroom?" she said before throwing a very unconvincing grin on her face. The guard narrowed his eyes as he brought a wrench out from behind him, something that didn't go unnoticed by the young Avatar, who's gaze turned heated.

The guard twirled the wrench around, getting a good grip on it before swinging it rapidly at her. Korra easily ducked under and around him, her smaller size giving her the speed advantage. The guard had no chance of hitting her, his metal wrench causing the pipes to echo. She quickly ducked, dropping her hat off her head and pulling the scarf from around her neck. After his next swing, she wrapped it around his hand. Giving a strong yank, Korra twirled him around and threw him into the pipes. The force of the hit caused the machine's pipes to burst, releasing large amounts of steam.

"Thanks," she said to the downed guard. "This should be enough."

Shifting her stance, Korra began to bend the steam out of the pipes before forcing them back into them as hard as she could.

* * *

Sota's breath began to even out, the pain having fade as the memory receded, hopefully never to return again. Sitting up, he opened his eyes, only to see a chi-blocker standing before him. He had no time to try and defend himself as he was pulled to his feet forcefully by the man and held in place before the audience, many who gasped in shock that a child was there. Some were even beginning to feel uncomfortable at the thought of watching him get his bending taken away. Amon, however, only looked upon him with the same feeling of disgust he did all benders.

"Sota, no!" Bolin shouted as he struggled to break his restraints. A loud explosion shook the room, startling everyone as steam poured into it. The crowd began to scream in hysteria as one by one, they were lost sight of each other. Mako ran forward, hopping onto the stage and heading for his brother.

Sota blinked in confusion for a moment, before bending water on the restraints holding him. They instantly iced over, making them easy to break. Now free, Sota wasted no time bending the steam into water in his hands and attacking the chi-blocker holding him. The distracted man fell victim to his waterbending, flying out over the stage before hitting the ground and being frozen to it.

Turning to his friend, he rushed over to him, freezing his restraints as well before breaking them.

"We've gotta get outta here!" he shouted to Bolin who nodded before being grabbed from behind by a chi-blocker. Before the chi-blocker could get a good grip on him, Mako appeared out of the smoke, grabbing him and flipping him off the stage and way from them.

"Bolin, you alright?"

"Yes! Mako, I love you!" he cheered, opening his arms to hug his brother.

"Where's Korra?" Sota asked.

"She's gonna meet us outside, but we've gotta get out of here," Mako replied. Sota nodded his head and the three ran for the exit. Bolin kicked the door open, relieving them of some of the steam. They found themselves on a balcony, though that didn't stop them as one by one, they began to climb down the ladder, Sota going first, followed by Bolin and then Mako. The sound of footsteps caught Mako's attention, causing him to look up just as one of the Equalist, Amon's Lieutenant in fact, twirl his dual sticks before slamming them on the metal ladder.

A strong electrical plus shot through their bodies as it travelled through the ladder. Their bodies locked up for a moment before their fingers unlatched, sending the three boys falling to the concrete. The landing was almost as painful as the shock, though they had little to no time to let that sink in as they jumped up and apart, narrowly missing getting electrocuted again when he jumped down toward them.

No on their feet, the boys began to attack the Lieutenant, Mako firing off a fire ball, but it was no good as he missed. The man ran up on him, swinging his electric batons at Mako who was able to dodge the swings at him, until he felt one sweep under his leg before the second one knocked him in the stomach, sending him to the ground.

Finished with the firebender, the Lieutenant turned to Bolin and Sota who, without his watch satchel, was about as useful as paper against an airbender. Bolin flipped forward, grabbing a chunk of earth on his way back up and hurling it at his opponent. When the lieutenant made easy work of dodging the first one, Bolin threw a second, only to have that one dodged as well.

The lieutenant charged forward, worrying Bolin who then proceeded to raise a wall of earth in front of him. Which was, once again, dodged by the lieutenant who then flipped over the earth bender, putting between him and Sota. Bolin stood no chance, getting hit in rapid succession with the electric batons, backing up into the very rock wall he created as he was hit with both sticks. Bolin slumped against the ground, just as Mako rounded the corner of the wall, swinging his foot out to send an arch of fire at the man.

As soon as he landed, Mako spun in the opposite direction, kicking more fire at him. The lieutenant dodged him, swinging his sticks just over Mako's head. Mako went in for a quick punch which was deflected, and got shoved backwards, electricity coursing stunning him. The lieutenant jabbed both sticks forward, shock Mako even more before the boy fell over on the ground like his brother.

With the two benders down, Sota could feel the fear creeping up on him. It only became worse as the lieutenant looked upon him, sticks charged in his hands. As he began to advance toward the young boy, he spoke, voice clear with determination and belief.

"You benders need to understand," he said as he walked forward. "There's no place in the world for you anymore."

A large rock shot from the ground, hitting him and sending him into the wall before he dropped to the ground. The lieutenant groaned as he pushed himself up, glaring behind Sota who had turned around, a smile of relief on his face at the sight of his big sister.

"I wouldn't count us out just yet," she said. Sota ran up to her and threw himself into her arms, hugging her fiercely.

"Korra! I'm happy to see you! I can't believe you found me," he ranted.

"I'm so glad you're ok," she said, hugging him back, though dropping the smile on her face as she pulled back. "But you and I are gonna have a serious talk about this later." Putting her fingers to her mouth, she blew a loud whistle. "Naga!"

The polar bear dog ran down a ramp, heading straight for to her while she helped Mako get up, Sota doing the same for Bolin. Korra and Mako hopped onto her back as more chi-blockers jumped from the balcony and to the ground. Grabbing the reins, Korra took control of Naga, going full speed. Bolin, no sitting up, screamed as the charging polar bear dog headed their way, while Sota hopped onto her back, securing himself behind Mako. Naga grabbed Bolin by the neck of his shirt on her way, running as fast she could while jostling him.

"I want-to be- on- your back-" he said between each trot. The lieutenant looked on at them angrily, pointing to them.

"The Avatar, that's her!" he said, the chi blockers preparing to give chase.

"Let her go," Amon commanded as he stood on the balcony. "She's the perfect messenger to tell the city of my power."

* * *

Sota stared up at the full moon, a feeling of both relief and annoyance coursing through him body. If it had been a little later, his blood bending would have worked. A small part of him was angered by this because of how close he had been to losing his bending. But a larger, more dominate part of him was relieved that he hadn't been able to do it. The last thing he wanted was to be haunted by yet another memory of the horrible feeling it left him with.

He and Korra had just pulled onto the shore of Air Temple Island and were making their way inside, both deep in thought. Tenzin walked up to them, instantly throwing his arms around Sota who was relieved to see him as well.

"Thank goodness," Tenzin said, pulling away. "I was just about to send out a search party. Are you two alright?" Korra shook her head no while Sota said nothing, his gaze remaining to the ground. "What happened?"

"I was at an Equalist rally; that's where I found Sota. I saw Amon," she said.

"What!?"

"Tenzin…he can take people's bending away. For good," Sota declared.

"But…that's impossible. Only the Avatar has ever possessed that ability."

"But we saw him do it," Korra said. "He almost got Sota and Bolin, Tenzin." The elder man was quiet for a few seconds before replying.

"I believe you," he stated. "I don't know how Amon has achieved this power, but this means the revolution is more dangerous than ever." Looking out onto the bay toward the city, he stated, "No bender is safe."

"What do we do, Tenzin?" Sota asked.

"For now, you should get some rest. You've been through a great ordeal." Sota nodded, watching as Tenzin walked away, leaving him and Korra alone. Turning to his sister, Sota searched for something to say, but for once, he couldn't think of anything.

"How could you have been so stupid, Sota?" Korra asked a hint of sadness in her angry voice.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to help, and-"

"Help!? Helping, would have been doing a few odd jobs to get some money. You went along with a gangster and got yourself kidnapped. Do you know what could have happened? What if you had been arrested again, or taken hostage, or worse?" Korra yelled. Sota hung his head, knowing that she was right. When he said nothing, Korra continued. "You had me worried sick. Image what Mom and Dad would have done if something had happened to you."

"I'm sorry, Korra. I swear, I'll never do something stupid like that again."

"You damn right you won't because you're not allowed to leave this island again without me or my permission," she declared, pointing at him, a shocked look on his face. "You're ground, effective immediately."

"What!? But Korra-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Sota!" she said, turning to leave, pausing to say, "If I were you, I wouldn't push this Sota. Not if you want to stay in the city."

Sota looked on in shock, but said nothing else as he watched his sister walk away. She wouldn't really send him away, would she? Sure he had screwed up, but…

Sota's gaze drifted up to look across the water at the arena. Had he just ruined his chances in Republic City, all over one mistake?


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 _The dark night sky was illuminated by the full moon as it shone into Korra's open window, the shutters moving in the breeze. The girl in question lie in bed, sleep and unaware of anything that was going on outside of her dream world. The hall, glowing in same light, was silent, alerting no one to the dangerous chi-blockers as they ran past her room, their shadow the only indication of their presence._

 _Korra suddenly jumped up, her mind alert the danger that was near, just as a chi-blocker jumped in through the window, breaking the shudders off and into pieces. Korra's attention was instantly drawn to the doors where two more burst into the room, ready for attack._

 _Korra jumped up, kicking waves of fire at them, but the chi-blockers were easily able to dodge it. That didn't stop Korra though as she threw her fists out at them, shooting more burning energy at her opponents. But the chi-blockers were too quick for her, one distracting her while a second came up behind her and blocked her chi with quick jabs up her spine._

 _Korra yelped as she was brought to her knees, drained and woozy. The sounds of footsteps reached her ears just as she looked up to see her little brother skid to a stop in the open doorway._

" _Korra!" Sota shouted, worry changing to anger as he shot his hands out toward the chi-blockers. What he was going to do, Korra had no idea; maybe he was going to bend the water in the air around them or from out the window, or maybe he was going to bloodbend them. But before he could do anything, the third chi-blocker that had seemed to have vanished from her sight, appeared behind him, grabbing him in a headlock._

 _Sota grabbed at the arm around his neck, but it was useless, as he was hit at the base of his neck, blocking both his chi and his movements. The young boy's body went limp as he too was brought to his knees in front of the chi-blocker as a dark shadow walked into the room, an invisible light shining up from the ground and into his face, though Korra knew who it was instantly as her eyes grew wide in fear._

" _Such a shameful waste, this young life was, all because he was cursed with bending," Amon said, standing behind a terrified Sota who's eyes were trained on his sister before his head was drawn backwards, forcing him to look into the sky. Korra watched on in horror as Amon brought his thumb down onto Sota's forehead. The seconds ticked by, and as Amon's hand lifted his hand from Sota, the young waterbender hunched over even more, but forced himself to look at his sister, tears in her eyes. Turning back to the chi-blocker holding his victum, Amon gave a nod, one that terrified Korra as she didn't have the slightest idea of what was going to happen next._

 _Nothing in this world or the next could have prepared Korra for what she about to see. The chi-blocker grabbed both sides of Sota's head, holding it securely in his hands. Sota opened his mouth to speak, but never got the chance as his head was jerked to the side in a swift motion. The resounding crack would haunt Korra until the end of her days as would the sight of her little brother's limp body as it dropped to the floor. Korra couldn't find her voice as she slowly brought her horror stricken eyes back to Amon who now stood before her._

" _After I take your bending away, you will be nothing," he said, reaching out to her._

* * *

Korra screamed as she shot up in bed, breath heavy as she tried to pull air in and out regularly. Naga, having been awakened by her master's screams, licked her hand reassuringly. Korra could feel her beating heart coming back to rest as she realized it was just a dream.

"It's alright Naga," she said, bringing a hand up to pet the Polar Bear Dog. "I just had a bad dream…"

Korra leaned forward, resting on her best friend's head, unaware of the presence just outside her door.

Sota looked at the floor guiltily, his hands clenched into fists. He had no doubt in his mind that whatever it was that gave Korra that nightmare had something to do with Amon, and it was all his fault. If he hadn't gotten caught, if he hadn't done something so stupid like he had, Korra wouldn't be feeling this way. As he turned and made his way back to his room, he couldn't help wondering if he maybe he would be better off back at home and if coming to Republic City was a mistake.

* * *

The morning sun was warm against his skin, but Sota paid it no attention as he sat near the his normal training pond, his mind completely zoned out.

"Sota!" The young boy looked up at the sound of his name being called just as Jinora ran over, jumping onto him and hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad you're ok. You had us all worried."

"Sorry about that, Jinora," he said, half heartedly, something that did not go unnoticed by her. Pulling away, the young airbender looked into the blue eyes of her best friend, her grey eyes changing from happiness to worry.

"You never call me Jinora…"she said quietly. "Sota, what's wrong?"

Sota wanted to lie to her and tell her that it was nothing, but she was too smart for her own good. She could see right through him, and it was only a matter of time before she found out anyway.

"I messed up, Jinora. I messed up bad," he said quietly.

"What happened?" she asked, untangling herself from him and sitting cross-legged next to him.

"We found out what's going on with those Equalist and that Amon guy. He can take people's bending away."

"What!?" Jinora cried out in horror. "But…that's impossible. No one but the Avatar has ever had that kind of power."

"That's what your dad said too. But it's true. He can take people's bending away, permanently."

"Did…did you…I mean…did he…"

"Take my bending?" Sota asked, looking at her. Jinora timidly nodded her head, not sure if that was what was causing her friend to be in such a mood. "No, thank the spirits. Korra and Mako showed up and saved me and Bolin before Amon could get his hands on us."

"Thank goodness," Jinora sighed in relief before turning back to him. "I can't imagine how scary that was."

"It was awful," he admitted. "In fact, I was so terrified, I actually tried to bloodbend the chi-blockers around us."

"What! Sota, you know-"

"I know it's illegal, but I was desperate and we were out of options," he defended. "I was sure that we were going to lose out bending. I had no choice."

"I guess you're right," she said, feeling guilty now. Sota saw this, and reached out, grabbing her hand in his. Jinora looked up at him, though she still felt bad.

"It's ok. It didn't work. I couldn't hold it. The moon wasn't high enough in the sky. And…I think I was too scared of what would happen to me if I did use it. It backfired pretty bad though; I can still feel the pain from the recoil of it."

"I'm so sorry, Sota. But it's ok, because you're here now, safe and sound."

"Yeah, for now," he said, dropping their hands and looking away from her and back to the water.

"What do you mean?"

"Korra…Korra's thinking about sending me back to the South Pole."

"What!? But she can't do that!" Jinora protested. "You're meant to be here."

"She hasn't made up her mind yet, but…she thinks it might be best not to let me stay. And after what happened, I can't blame her."

"But that's not fair. You made a mistake and, and…" Jinora teetered out, tears coming to her eyes at the thought of being separated from her friend again. "I don't want you to go…you can't go…"

"I don't want to go, but maybe it's for the best," Sota said, tears coming to his eyes as well. "Last night, Korra had a nightmare, and I just know it was about Amon. This is all my fault, Jinora. I've made this mess and now it's hurting Korra, and I don't know how to fix it, or if I even can."

"Oh, Sota…" Jinora said, pulling him into another hug, one that he returned as their tears silently fell down their faces.

* * *

The day was just about over, the lights from inside providing the necessary light for Korra as she practiced her airbending forms, though she still had yet to actually bend air. Her forms were perfect, but Korra knew her mind wasn't with her body, her nightmare replaying in her head. She hadn't seem much of Sota, only seeing him that morning at breakfast, though she knew he wouldn't disobey her and leave the island. She had wondered offhandedly if she had been too harsh with him, but was interrupted as the radio she had been listening to cut off, static replacing the music playing.

" _My fellow Equalist,"_ Amon's voice came, startling Korra and drawing her attention. _"This is your leader, Amon. As you have heard, the Republic Council has voted to make me public enemy number one. Proving once again that the bending oppressors of this city will stop at nothing to quash our revolution. But we cannot be stopped. Our numbers grow stronger by the day. You no longer have to live in fear. The time has come, for benders to experience fear."_

Korra could feel the fear pulsing through her bones as beads of sweat ran down her face, her eyes wide in fear. This was getting worse and worse by the day, and so far, she wasn't sure she could handle it.

* * *

Korra walked into the dining room to see that everyone was there, waiting for her so that they could start dinner. Her eyes fell upon her brother at the other end of the table next to Jinora, who was looking at her for a split second before averting his eyes back to his plate. Jinora gave him a sideways glance, though her features were calm to hide her worry. The Avatar turned away from him as well, sitting in her seat and folding her hands like everyone else as Tenzin nodded and began the blessing.

"Thank the spirits and all the creatures of the world," he began. "We are grateful for this food, for happiness, for compassion, for-"

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Everyone's eyes opened up and turned to the door to see none other than Councilmen Tarrlok, bowing to them all with a smirk on his face at their shocked faces.

"This is my home, Tarrlok," Tenzin protested. "We're about to eat dinner."

"Good, because I am absolutely famished," he said, ignoring the very clear upset tone in Tenzin's voice. The airbending master narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the man, knowing full and well he was here for a reason. "Airbenders never turn away a hungry guest, right?" He didn't wait for a response as he walked to the table.

Tenzin sighed, turning back to everyone at the table. "I suppose." Pema watched her husband sit, an upset look on her face. Tenzin, seeing the look, shrugged his shoulders as if the matter was out of his hands.

"Ah, you must be the famous Avatar Korra," Tarrlok gushed as he walked pass the kids and to the teenager at the table. "It is truly an honor. I am Councilmen Tarrlok, representative from the Northern Water Tribe."

"Nice to meet you," Korra said pleasantly with a bow, her ego getting a boost from his praise. Tarrlok returned the bow, before the two righted themselves and Korra pointed to her brother who was still watching the exchange with caution. "My brother, Sota, and I are from the Southern Water Tribe, as I'm sure you could guess."

"Hello, Councilmen," he said, standing and bowing out of common courtesy and respect for his elders. Tarrlok simply nodded his head before taking his seat along with the two of them.

Sliding over toward the man, Ikki narrowed her eyes as she asked question after question. "Why do you have three ponytails? And how come you smell like a lady? You're weird."

Sota and Jinora had to stifle their giggles at Tarrlok's annoyed look. "Aren't you…precocious." Turning back to Korra, who had begun to eat, Tarrlok decided to get down to business. "So, I've been reading all about your adventures in the papers."

"You know, Sota has been a part of those-" Jinora started but stopped as the boy in question elbowed her and shook his head no. Now was not the time to bring up all the things that had happened so far since they got here, especially with Korra sitting right next to Tarrlok.

"Infiltrating Amon's rally, now that took some real initiative," he praised, ignoring her.

"Oh, thanks," Korra said a bit bashfully. "It wasn't really that big a deal. I guess it just took the right motivation."

Swallowed the food in his mouth hard, resisting the urge to cough at the silent undertone of her words. He wasn't sure if she was directing a jab at him, or is she was just speaking truthfully, but either way, he suddenly felt very uncomfortable at this table. To make matters worse, he normal reaction of making a smart comment at his sister's expense, a reflex if you will, was the cause of his current choking problem. Swallowing, he quickly gasped as his windpipe cleared of the obstruction that was once his food.

"I think you're the first authority figure in this city that's happy I'm here," Korra continued, ignoring her brother.

"Republic City is _much_ better off now that you've arrived."

"Enough with the flattery, Tarrlok," Tenzin commanded, clearly unhappy with this situation. "What do you want from Korra?"

"Patience, Tenzin. I'm getting to that," he said, smirk still on his face. Turning away from Tenzin's unhappy look, he began to address Korra once more. "As you may have heard, I am assembling a task force, that will strike at the heart of the revolution. And I want you to join me."

"Really?" Korra asked, genuinely surprised.

"What!?" Tenzin asked in astonishment.

"I need someone who will help me attack Amon directly. Someone who is fearless in the face of danger, and that someone is you," Tarrlok said, making everyone believe that he must have practiced that speech quite a few times. Sota especially did not like the vibe that this conversation was leaving him with, but kept his eyes down and his mouth shut; he was in enough trouble, why make it worse, especially since he knew what his sister's response would be.

"Join your task force?" Korra said, looking away from him. "I can't."

The clatter of chopsticks hitting the table was the only sound as everyone stopped to stare at the Avatar in shock, no one more so then Tenzin and Sota, who's utensils had made the noise. Ok, something was definitely not right. That was the last think he expected to hear from his sister who ignored everyone and took a drink from her tea cup.

"I, must admit, I'm rather surprised. I thought you'd jump at the chance to help me lead the charge against Amon," Tarrlok said to her, a bit uncomfortable as she continued to eat.

"Me too," Tenzin mumbled to himself.

"I didn't think there was another option when it came to her," Sota whispered to Jinora who too had resumed eating.

"I came to Republic City to finish my Avatar training with Tenzin. Right now, I just need to focus on that," Korra replied.

"Which is why this opportunity is perfect," Tarrlok said as he tried to persuade her again, much to Korra's annoyance. "You would get on the job experience while performing your Avatar duty for the city."

"Korra gave you her answer, it's time for you to go," Tenzin said, his patience wore out. However, Tarrlok was not one to give up so easily, his eyes drifting to Sota.

"What about you, son?" he asked, surprising them all. "I'm sure a waterbender such as yourself would be a great addition to the task force?"

Korra looked to her little brother with wide eyes, her nightmare replaying as she tried to control the shaking of her hands.

"You can't be seriously offering a child a part of an operation such as this!" Tenzin shouted.

"Normally, I would agree that this would be unethical. However, I'm sure that this young man has great potential and would be proud to represent the Southern Water Tribe in such a venture-"

"No!" Korra and Sota shouted at the same time, startling him. Korra looked to Sota who coughed as he recomposed himself. "I mean, the offer sounds like a great opportunity, but as Tenzin has stated, I'm just a kid. And I'm really not that great of a bender. Mediocre at best. I need a lot of practice and I doubt that in the middle of something as important as that would be the best place to do so."

Korra, though not surprised by her brother's response, was surprised by the fact he looked so…nervous. Something was bothering him, and it had more to do then with the offer Tarrlok had given him.

"I see," Tarrlok said, standing as a smile returned to his face. "But, I'm not giving up on you two yet. You'll be hearing from me soon. It had been a pleasure, Avatar Korra."

With that promise and farewell, Tarrlok took his leave, giving Sota once last glance before leaving.

"Bye bye, ponytail man," Ikki cheered with a wave, momentarily distracting everyone as Tarrlok tried to ignore how much a child could bother him.

Sota's gaze never left the table, his heart beating rapidly in his chest as his palms grew sweaty. He suddenly felt very sick and needed to go.

"May I be excused?" Sota asked quietly. Korra looked at him worriedly.

"Of course, sweetie," Pema said. Sota mumbled a soft thank you before standing and moving to the opposite doors leading to the sleeping quarters, passing everyone without so much as a glance. Korra prepared to go after him but was beaten to the punch by Jinora who ran after him, leaving the Avatar feeling guilt ridden and detached from her little brother.

"Sota," Jinora called softly as she caught up to him. The waterbender turned to her, relieved that it was her and not his sister. "What's wrong?"

"It's just…Tarrlok putting me on the spot like that, I was afraid that it was just going to set Korra off again, and I…I just don't think I can handle that right now."

Jinora nodded her head in understanding, but couldn't help the nagging feeling at the back of her head.

"That's not all, is it?" she asked.

Sota was quiet for a moment before quietly admitting, "The thought of coming face to face with Amon again terrifies me, Jinora. I…I don't think I can stay in Republic City."

 **To be continued…**

 **Ok, so this chapter, is a bit short, and that's ok. I may do with episode in two chapter, I may do it in three. I honestly am just using this to build more character development and drama. So…Korra and Sota…can't even talk to each other. Sad right? They were so close and now, they can't even look each other in the eye. Do you think that Sota will decide to leave Republic City? Or will Korra make the decision for him?**

 **Next chapter, we get to go to a party! And we'll have some special guests, who I'm hoping you're all looking forward to seeing again.**

 **Also, I would like to state this now: This is not a Jinora/OC fanfiction. Sota and Jinora will not be getting together, though the thought had crossed my mind originally when I came up with the idea a long time ago. The two of them are just very close and are truly best friends who are there for each other. Jinora will still end up with Kai (I like him a lot as a character).**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter as well as what's to come next.**

 **Later,**

 **Blak-Ice**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The following morning was quiet as Korra sat on some steps, lazily petting Naga's oversized belly while thinking about all that had happened last night. After dinner, Korra went to go check on Sota, but found him in his room sleeping, and felt it was best not to disturb him; she'd wait until the morning to talk to him about what happened. However, she had yet to get a chance to talk to him. In fact, she hadn't even seen him that morning, and had considered going to look for him, but decided against it and would give him some space for the time being.

"Hello, fellow teammate!"

Looking up, Korra was surprised to see Bolin, Pabu resting on his shoulder, walking up to her.

"Hey, Bolin," she greeted, still petting Naga.

"Missed you at practice this week," he said causally, hands behind his back.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she said half heatedly. "I've been keeping Sota on lockdown, and have been staying to be sure he doesn't leave the island."

Korra knew that this was a lie; Sota wouldn't leave the island like that and she didn't need to stay to be sure he wouldn't, but she knew Bolin would buy the excuse.

"Ah, it's alright. We're probably of the tournament anyway," he said. "Unless some money miraculously drops out of the sky by tomorrow. Anyway, the reason I came by, was to give you this." Bolin pulled his hands from behind his back, holding a rose in one hand and a wrapped pastry in the other. "Ta-da!"

"Wow, thanks," Korra said, genuinely surprised. "What's this for?"

"Uh, I can't remember now-Oh, right! Now I remember! You saved me from Amon!"

"Oh, that? It was no big deal," Korra replied, acting nonchalantly.

"No big deal, are you serious?"Bolin asked, looking at her as if she were crazy. "I was totally freaking out when he was coming at me with his creepy mask, all 'I will take away your bending forever!' I mean, that was scary stuff. I still can't sleep well. I bet Sota was even more terrified. Is he ok?"

"Um hmm, he's fine. Why do you ask?" Korra asked, bored expression still on her face. Bolin prepared to tell her about what happened, when they were suddenly interrupted.

"Delivery, for Avatar Korra and Sota," the scrawny man said as he brought over a very large and oversized basket of gifts and placed them next to Korra. "Tarrlok sends his compliments and urges you and your brother to reconsider his offer."

"Tell him I haven't changed my mind, and that neither I nor my brother will be joining him," Korra said, leaning away from the gifts in yet another bored manner.

"Um hmm," the man said, bowing to her and taking his leave.

"Who's this Tarrlok guy?" Bolin asked suspiciously. "Is he bothering you? Cause I can have a word with him."

Korra chuckled at his protectiveness. "No, it's not like that. He's just some old guy that works with Tenzin on the council."

"Oh, good. That sounds better. I like that better."

* * *

Loud machinery was at work as the numerous workers helped to move various parts of the hundreds of Satomobles down the assembly lines. Mako looked around in fascination as Hiroshi Sato, father of Asami Sato, the girl he had recently started dating, told him more and more about the company.

"What do you think of my little operation here?" Hiroshi asked.

"It's…very impressive, Mr. Sato," Mako replied honestly.

"Please, call me Hiroshi. So, I understand your dirt poor."

"Uh, well…" Mako said, looking away in embarrassed shame.

"Young man, that is nothing to be ashamed of," Hiroshi assured. "I too came from humble beginnings. Why, when I was your age, I was a mere shoe shiner, and all I had to my name was an idea; the Satomoble. Now, I was fortunate enough to meet someone who believed in me, and my work ethic. He gave me the money I needed to get my idea off the ground. And I, built the entire Future Industries empire from that one, selfless loan."

"Dad, stop bragging," Asami reprimanded playfully. A giggle could be heard, drawing their attention and causing them to look up. Above them, high on the one of the metal rafters was a girl, her golden eyes shining in both mischief and excitement.

"She's right, Uncle; I think it's pretty obvious where that one loan has gotten you," she said, hanging upside down from the metal structure.

"Mai-Ling, how many times do I have to tell you to not hang from the rafters in the factory? Get down from there," Hiroshi said.

"Yes, Uncle Hiro," she said with a sigh as she slowly climbed down from her perch. Once on the ground, she casually walked past the workers and up to her family and guest.

"What are you even doing here?" Asami asked her cousin.

"Jun and I heard you tell Uncle Hiro that Mako of the Fire Ferrets was coming here, and I wanted to meet him," she said with a cheeky smile.

"So you were eavesdropping, as usual," she said with a shake of her head. "Speaking of which, where is Jun?"

"Over here," the girl in question said as she walked up to the group and stood next to Mai-Ling.

"Mako, this is my annoying little cousin, Mai-Ling, and her friend, Jun. They're staying with my Dad and me for a while." Asami introduced them. "My dad and her dad are brothers. He's a Politian in the Fire Nation, and my dad helped to fund his campaign."

"Nice to meet you both," Mako said with a smile as he shook Mai-Ling's hand while Jun simply nodded her head to him.

"Nice to meet you. We're really big fans of your team and were just dying to meet you!" Mai-Ling said enthusiastically. "Are you guys ready for the tournament?"

"Um, well, actually, I don't think we're gonna be competing this year," Mako said sadly. "We couldn't come up with the money, and the deadline is tomorrow. But we're just happy to have made it to this far on our first try."

"Dad, tell him the good news," Asami urged. Hiroshi laughed, confusing the firebender.

"What good news?"

"Well, my daughter and niece passionately told me all about your hard earned success in the Probending arena, and about your team's current…finance stumbling block," he said, placing a hand on Mako's back. "Now I'd hate to see you lose your chance at winning the championship just because you're short a few Yuens. That's why I'm going to sponsor the Fire Ferrets in the tournament!"

"Are you serious!?" Mako asked in total disbelief.

"Trust us," Mai-Ling said with a laugh of her own. "You'd know if he wasn't."

"He's serious," Asami confirmed as well. "My Dad's gonna cover your ante for the championship pot."

"That…that _is_ good news!" Mako cheered.

"Just make sure you guys don't lose," Jun said, expression stoic.

"Jun!" Mai-Ling cried out in distress. "They're the Fire Ferrets! Of course they're not gonna lose!"

"You can count on it that," Mako agreed readily.

"There's just one other catch, then," Hiroshi said. "You all have to wear the Future Industries logo on your uniforms."

"I'll tattoo it on my chest, if you want, sir!" Mako said excitedly. The three Sato's laughed, Jun giving a small giggle of her own at the over enthusiastic nature of the firebender. "Thank you all so much! I promise, the Fire Ferrets will make the most of this opportunity!"

* * *

Sota and Jinora could only stare from where they stood in front of the very expensive new Satomoble that was currently parked before them. There was a large red bow wrapped around it, indicating that it was a gift, though that did little to shake the shock from the two preteens as they watched Meelo and Ikki pretend to drive it, making various car like noises. In Sota's hand was the card that Tarrlok sent with it, but he barely even glanced at it as his eyes had yet to even leave the car.

"Holy Spirits…" Sota mumbled.

"I can't believe that Tarrlok sent you guys a car," Jinora said. "He can't actually believe that this was a good idea. Does he really think he can bribe her with a car?"

"Well, I mean, it is a pretty nice car," Sota said, reading over the card. His eyes bulged out of his head as he read the words on there. Was Tarrlok serious?

"Sota! Don't be so materialistic," Jinora reprimanded him. "Korra won't fall for this."

"That's good because it's not for Korra. It's for me," he said. Jinora stared at him in shock before snatching the note from him and reading over it for herself. Tenzin, having heard the commotion, walked up behind them, shaking his head at the extravagant machine.

"Has he gone crazy? Why would he give you a car? You're twelve. You can't even drive it."

"Well, how hard can it be? I mean, I can control a Polar Bear dog, so this can't be much more difficult, right?" Sota asked. Jinora gave him an annoyed scowl, never noticing her father or his departure.

Tenzin walked up to the sparring ring where Korra was practicing her airbending movements.

"I see Tarrlok's gift's are getting more and more extravagant," he commented, stopping to watch her.

"Yeah, that guy doesn't know how to take no for an answer," she said, never halting in her movements. "I've never even driven a car, why would I need one?"

"Actually, the car was a gift for Sota," Tenzin commented, startling Korra who turned to look at him.

"What!? You can't be serious! Why would he give a twelve year old a car!?"

"One of the many questions that we will never know the answer to," Tenzin sighed. Korra shook her head before continuing her practicing. "Korra…are you, doing alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she shrugged.

Tenzin shook his robes out before sitting on the steps, inviting Korra to sit and take a break with him. Korra accepted, making her way over to him and sitting down.

"I'm glad you turned down Tarrlok, but I just wanted to make sure your decision was for the right reason."

"I'm just really focused on my airbending right now," she said eyes to the ground. "And, what kind of example would I be setting for Sota if I did something reckless like that, after grounding him for doing something just as reckless?"

"Right," Tenzin said, clearly not believing a word of what she said. "That's what you said." He paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to approach this without upsetting her. "You know, it's ok to be scared. I imagine that Sota is quite scared."

"Really? He hasn't said anything to me about it," she said disappointedly. "In fact, he hasn't said much to me at all lately. Almost like he's avoiding me."

"Perhaps he's still shaken by it, and has, instead, found a confidant in someone else. Someone who he believes can relate to him and his fears a bit more."

"You mean Jinora," Korra said, receiving a nod from Tenzin. "I guess that makes sense. I mean, out of everyone in Republic City, I'm probably the last person who anyone would want to talk to about being scared. They probably think that I can't relate to them."

"The whole city is frightened by what's been going on. The important thing is to talk about our fears, because if we don't, they can throw us out of balance."

Korra said nothing, glancing at Tenzin before looking away again. The master airbender stood, preparing to leave, but turned to her once more, a few more words of wisdom to give.

"I'm always here for you, if you want to talk."With those words, Tenzin took his leave, Korra being left to contemplate their conversation.

Later that night, everyone sat in the garden, busying themselves with various activites. Sota stood on the small bridge over the pond, avoiding making eye contact with his sister by watching Jinora and Ikki play a game of Pai Sho. Korra sadly watched him, debating on whether she should go up to him and talk, but was interrupted by the same man who had brought all of her gifts from Tarrlok.

"Avatar Korra. I have something for you," he presented.

Korra hopped off her perched leaning against the building and marched up to him angrily.

"It doesn't matter how many gifts Tarrlok sends, we're not joining his task force!" she declared, earthbending him so he was facing the opposite direction and delivering a kick to his backside. The man stumbled past the girls and Sota who had watched the entire exchange with a bit of humor, but remained silent.

"It's not a gift!" the man declared, grabbing everyone's attention again as he presented an envelope. "It's an invitation."

"To what?" Korra asked, walking up to him and taking the letter.

"Tarrlok is throwing a gala in your honor. All of Republic City's movers and shakers will be there. The Councilman humbly request your attendance."

"A party!?" Ikki shouted, jumping up and airbending the tiles off the table. Jinora ignored this, her excitement matching her sisters as she looked to Sota who had a surprised look on his face, the opposite of the suspicious one that Korra had.

* * *

Korra walked into the hall, flanked by Tenzin and Pema. Jinora, Ikki and Meelo ran off excitedly in an effort to join the party. Sota was the last of the party to enter, dragging behind everyone else.

Sota sighed as he walked in and looked around. He hadn't been to many of these types of parties in his life, them being few and far between, the only exception being a wedding of two, and for the most part, it was always the same; the adults would go off and talk about something either uninteresting or something that he didn't understand, the food would be fancy and unappealing to him, and he's spend the night alone, wandering around or sticking close to his parents, patiently waiting for when they finally got to leave. On the few occasions that there were other kids there to socialize with, he never approached them; it was common knowledge that he was the person to avoid down in the South Water Tribe, and had gotten used to being alone.

Having watched Jinora run off with her siblings, Sota suspected that this was going to be another one of those parties. Not that he blamed them for doing so; this was probably the first big party that they've been to and were beyond excited. Their excitement would die out soon though.

Sota weighed his options. He could go on a search for his friend and her siblings, but that seemed like a lot of work. Though he also had the option of sticking close to Korra and Tenzin, he quickly rejected that idea; he'd rather spend the night alone then have to deal with all the snobby people of Republic City trying to suck up to him to get to Korra.

"Looks like another boring party," he mumbled to himself. "I guess I expected a bit more from Republic City."

"That was your first mistake," a girl said.

Sota turned to his right, his eyes going big as he took in the form of a very familiar pale skin girl. Her green eyes shone with the same boredom as before, her voice registering in his mind instantly.

"Jun?"

"Hey there, water boy," she said, a slight smirk on her face.

 **To be continued…**


End file.
